Championing Cats in the Maldives

You’ve probably heard that rising oceans are threatening the Maldives, but you may not know that the Indian Ocean archipelago of 1,192 islands also has a cat problem. 

The capital city, Malé, with a population of more than half a million people living in just over eight square kilometers (a bit more than three square miles), is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. It’s overrun with neglected feral cats that continue to multiply, leading to tragic cases of cat killing as overcrowded people take their wrath out on desperate cats. 

Sara Siyam, creative director of Sun Siyam Resorts and daughter of its founders, is on a mission to change the lives of cats in the Maldives. In this Muslim country, harming cats is a serious offense, one with legal and spiritual consequences, Siyam said. But the laws aren’t enforced. She dreams of a country where cats are regularly spayed, neutered, and cared for, and she’s starting by tending to the cat colony at Siyam World, the company’s largest resort, which opened two years ago in Noonu Atoll. More than sixty cats roam the 133-acre island, including twenty that she cares for personally, including Lucy, who likes to swim! 

Siyam has set up feeding stations around the island and is building a fully-staffed vet clinic. The island already has one vet to care for the resort’s twelve horses, but Siyam World is bringing in two more to help the cats, as well as the resort’s chickens and its more than fifty goats. They hope to also extend much-needed veterinary services to local, non-resort islands. 

Before Siyam World opened, Sara worked at the resort chain’s head office in Malé. “One day when I was coming home from work, there were two little kittens without their eyes open abandoned on the street,” she told me over lunch at Siyam World. She took the tiny babies home. Jellybean survived; Midnight didn’t. “Every three hours, I had to bottle feed him.” She had her alarm set for feeding times 24/7 until Jellybean was big and strong enough to consume more than milk. “That’s how it began. And every time I saw a cat, I ended up taking it home with me.” 

By the time she moved to Siyam World for the pre-opening work, she had four cats. “I couldn’t leave my babies, so I brought them with me. And when I got here, there were other cats around. I don’t know how they got here. And that’s how Jellybean’s squad grew.”

As conservationists know, a wild cat population can wreak havoc on an ecosystem. Before Siyam World opened, the feral cats depended on hunting to live, but now, staff regularly feed the cats and most of the animals’ hunting now happens in restaurants, where cats slink between tables, angling for handouts from guests. By neutering, feeding, and caring for the island’s existing cats, the resort aims to keep a stable, healthy feline population, and an intact ecosystem. 

Employees are also stepping up to care for cats. Since the island is remote, all 1,200 workers live at the resort. Many are young and far from home. Siyam has introduced a system where the workers — both Maldivians and foreign nationals — can adopt a cat. The cat still roams free, but the employee registers their cat and makes a special commitment to care for and bond with that individual feline. Some cats are especially popular with guests, such as Tom, a Russian blue who rules the Kulhivaru sports bar. Guests regularly come by to check on Tom, who can sometimes be found sprawled on his back on the bar, as if passed out.

One day, a little gray cat started following Meimei Ismail around Siyam World. Ismail, who works as a marine biology host leading guests on the coral restoration project and on guided snorkeling, adopted her. She bought her a collar and food and named her Ginger. Now Ginger sleeps in her bed at night and roams the tropical island by day.  “She’s such an adorable cat,” Ismail says. “On the island, sometimes I feel a bit lonely. But to have her with me, it means the world [to] me.”

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