IT is common to hear of children and women being physically abused.

Many of these cases surface when the victims themselves or nongovernmental organizations report the matter to the authorities on their behalf.

But what if the victims are animals? Many animals are discarded and become strays. Some are abused or killed for their meat.

Feeling compassion for these animals, a Buddhist welfare group has opened the country’s biggest animal shelter in Pekan Nenas, Pontian. It is home to more than 2,500 animals belonging to 28 species.

Called Animal Paradise, the sanctuary appears more like a zoo than a shelter for abandoned or abused animals.

Covering a 2.4ha site in a rubber estate, the sanctuary is run by the Johor Baru-based Amituofo Buddhist Centre.

It houses 502 dogs and 650 cats, all of them strays. In keeping with Buddhist belief, adherents have also handed over their pet tortoises, rabbits and terrapins to the sanctuary.

The centre has also become home to pythons, geese, goats, cows, ostriches, peacocks, deer, porcupines and monitor lizards.

Project supervisor Goh Kim Huat, 50, said the sanctuary began with a few stray cats and dogs in 2002.

“We also have an animal adoption programme for those wanting pets, but this is restricted to dogs and cats,” said Goh, who manages the centre with eight other full-time staff.

The animals are kept in different enclosures. There is also a dedicated treatment centre for the animals.

“We run this place like a zoo. We are fastidious when it comes to hygiene and cleanliness. We treat the animals with the utmost care and respect.”

The animals are regularly given immunization jabs and the male are neutered.

Goh said it costs over RM30,000 a month to operate Animal Paradise and almost the entire sum came from regular donors and animal lovers.

“We receive up to 700 visitors during weekends,” he said, adding the centre only allowed visits by appointment.

He said sick pets were often dumped at the centre by irresponsible people.

An appeal from Mimi the cat Hi! How are you out there? My name is Mimi and I am a six-year-old feline.

I have mismatched eyes — One is blue and the other is brown. I thought the unusual colouring of my eyes would bring me luck. Well, I was wrong.

Some superstitious people called me “Yin Yang Eye”. They say my mismatched eyes give me the ability to see into the other world. This is all nonsense of course.

Me and my four siblings were born in a wealthy home. We were fed delicious food fit for pedigree cats, lived in an air-conditioned bungalow and watched television programmes with my master’s children.

Life was wonderful until an old woman, a distant relative of the family, came and took me away. My new owner lived in an old wooden house.

I think she adopted me because she needed my company. I had never seen any of her children come for visits.

I ate my owner’s leftover food, which was basically fish bones and rice. I think she used too much salt in her cooking because I kept shedding my fur and she kept losing her hair.

Sometimes, she would fast. When she decided to fast she expected me to fast as well. This was too much. How could she treat me like this? After all, I am a cat, not a human being.

One night, I ran away because I couldn’t take it anymore.

A kilometre down the road, I saw a few men sitting and chatting outside a house. They were speaking in a foreign language.

I approached them and meowed with the hope of getting their sympathy. They formed a circle around me and started meowing as well.

Then, one of them grabbed hold of my neck and lifted me up. One of the men went into the kitchen and brought out a pot of hot water. I felt a sudden pain radiating on my left abdomen. In the struggled to free myself I clawed the face of the man who had grabbed me.

I saw three red lines on his face before he released me and groaned in pain.

Of course, I ran for my life. I was in pain, exhausted, hungry and suddenly I was seeing stars.

By the time I regained consciousness, I was already in a ward. The people were kind to me. They treated my wound, fed me and petted me from time to time. Two weeks later, I was discharged from the ward.

I found out that I was in Animal Paradise. I was placed inside a huge enclosure with other cats who had also suffered terribly. Although we are meant for adoption, I can see from the eyes of my fellow friends that they are not keen at all.

We live in harmony and treat the place as our home. Sometimes, it crosses our mind that no one will come and adopt us.

Our food and safety are guaranteed here, but not when we are out of this paradise. There are both good people and bad people out there.

I know I am selfish, considering the huge amount of money the charity home has to raise to support us.

So, please kindly donate to our home so that we can live out our lives with dignity as we do have any EPF savings or life insurance policies!

From: Mimi, a resident of Animal Paradise.