GUARDIANS OF THE WHISKERS — Interview Profile: Gatitos en las Vías from Colegiales, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Jun 7
- 3 min read
How did you get started and what do you do for the cats in your area?
My name is Claudia. Nine years ago I moved to the Colegiales neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, very close to some railway tracks where cat colonies tend to form. Cats end up there mainly because people don't adopt responsibly, let their pets roam outside without sterilising them, and one day the cat doesn't come back home. It follows its instincts and ends up in these open spaces. That's where the reproduction starts, until full colonies form. The local council doesn't get involved in caring for them, and most people don't either.
One winter night I saw several kittens crying in front of an empty bowl and it broke my heart. That's when I started looking into what was happening there. I began bringing them food. At the beginning I cooked for them myself because I had no other way to feed them. More cats kept arriving, I connected with some neighbours who had been living there for years, and together we organised sterilisations privately. Little by little we got the colony under control. Some cats managed to find homes, but it takes people willing to help socialise them: they don't know what a house is and they're afraid of humans.
Today we receive support from a pet food distributor called Old Prince. We're running a recycling campaign where every month we exchange empty food bags from the distributor for cat food. I also set up a volunteer rota: a different volunteer comes every single day to bring food and water to the cats. It's a daily routine.
I tried to send you some photos of the Parque Ferroviario de Colegiales where the cats I look after live. I don't have photos with them because they don't come close and I can't touch them, except for one called the crying cat, a cat that clearly had a home and got lost. I hope something works out for him soon.
What is the biggest myth people have about street cats, and what is the biggest mistake people make when they try to help them?
The biggest myth is that street cats are fine on their own, that they chose this life and can manage. They can't. Most of them ended up on the street because of human decisions: irresponsible ownership, abandonment, not sterilising pets.
The biggest mistake is feeding them without sterilising them. If you feed a colony but don't sterilise the cats, the colony keeps growing. More cats are born into the same hard conditions. The problem doesn't get smaller, it spreads. Sterilisation is what actually controls it. Anyone who feeds street cats should also be sterilising them.
What do you need most right now, and how can people help?
People can help in several ways. If you are in Buenos Aires, you can join the volunteer rota and help with the daily feeding, offer to foster a cat, or help cover veterinary costs. Donations of food and supplies also make a real difference.
If you are not nearby, the best thing you can do is share our work so more people find out about it and the cats get more visibility.
You can follow us and get in touch through our Instagram account: @gatitosenlasvias.
What would you like people to understand about street cats that they don't understand today?
I hope more people can show solidarity with the cats and stop stigmatising them. They didn't choose this. Each one has a story behind it that nobody sees. And I hope more people learn what actually helps, so they can follow this example and look after the cats around them, wherever they are.
Comments