Last week, Enpa of Genoa was called for a rather rare rescue: two baby dormice preyed upon by a domestic cat in the area of Moneglia.
The story and the appeal
“Unfortunately, their story does not have a happy ending,” explains the organization, which, after recounting the entire story, made an appeal on its social media pages.
“We want to take this opportunity to remind once again how important it is to keep our pets under control.
The cat in question, undoubtedly left unattended, climbed the tree where the dormice’s nest was located. Of the two babies, one had already been preyed upon and chewed by the cat. By the time we arrived, it was already too late for him.
We tried in every way to save the other little one: we managed to rescue him and bring him to our center, and we spent the following day warming him and feeding him as much milk as possible. To our great sorrow, even our best efforts were not enough, and he too died after just one day.
We are really tired of reiterating this, but we will try once again: domestic cats, as such, should not be allowed to roam freely and cause further harm to wildlife.
It is not fair that a pet, which should be able to find food and sources of play already in the home where it lives, instead ‘takes it out’ on two wild babies. Two babies that, up until a moment before, were safe in their nest, with a mother who was surely taking care of them.
The reality is that a cat irresponsibly left free has destroyed the lives of these two little ones.
We hope our words can reach as many people as possible, and above all, that they are understood.
We ask once again that you pay attention to your pets. By doing so, you could unknowingly save the lives of many small wild animals.”