Olfa Cats & Dogs Rescue, Tunisia

£500 emergency Angel Grant sent to Olfa Cats & Dogs Rescue, Tunisia, August/September 2026

And we will let Olfa Ferchichi tell you her story:

I am 52 years old and I work full-time in a bank. I have always rescued animals. Whenever I found an animal abandoned, sick, injured or in danger, I simply could not leave it behind. Because there is very little adoption culture in Tunisia, I cannot find enough suitable homes for them. The number of animals has gradually increased, and I have ended up caring for large numbers of cats and dogs. For many years, I have financed everything myself. At one point, I had 16 dogs in boarding. I managed to arrange for several of them to travel abroad and find families, but this was extremely expensive.

For the past two and a half years, I have been renting a separate house approximately 25 km from my family home for the rescued animals. I go there every day after my full working day. There are around 40–50 rescued cats living there, together with three dogs. I also have seven rescued dogs in boarding, and I continue to feed around 20 stray cats and two stray dogs in the neighbourhood.

Everything is done by me. I buy and transport the food, prepare meals, feed the animals, clean the house, buy litter and cleaning products, take animals to veterinarians, organise sterilisation and vaccination, deal with emergencies, and try to find adopters (never found). And the rescues never stop. People leave kittens, newborn kittens, sick cats and sometimes even dogs near where I live. I have been left with litters of puppies as well. But every new rescue also means another responsibility, another veterinary bill, more food, more litter and eventually more debt. This is how I have reached my current situation.

I know that I cannot continue doing everything alone. I need to build a small team around the rescue work — at least someone to help with cleaning and someone to help prepare food and with the daily care of the animals. I need to be able to continue working, because my job is my only regular source of income, but I cannot continue doing a full-time job and then spending every evening and every weekend doing absolutely everything for dozens of animals. I need a structure. I need regular resources. I need help organising the rescue work properly. And most importantly, I need to stop living from one emergency to the next.

Financially, I have reached my limit. I also still have a significant number of cats who need to be sterilised. I also have kittens and younger cats who have never been vaccinated. I simply cannot afford to take all of them to the veterinarian at the moment, despite knowing that vaccinations and preventive care are essential. These are ongoing needs that I cannot postpone indefinitely, and this is another reason why I desperately need a more sustainable solution.

I do not want to stop rescuing animals. Rescuing animals is part of who I am. The rescues will continue whether I am financially prepared or not. Animals are abandoned every single day. What I need to change is the way I am doing this. I need to move from surviving to creating something structured and sustainable. Ideally, I would like to find a safe house where I can live with the animals. I would like to have some regular human help for cleaning, food preparation and daily care. I would like to sterilise more animals, reduce the number of unwanted births and gradually reduce the number of animals living in unsafe conditions. I would like to find more suitable adopters abroad and establish reliable relationships with organisations that could help with adoptions and, when possible, transportation. And I would like to have regular financial resources or sponsorship that would allow me to plan ahead instead of constantly accumulating new debts.

The grant you have just given me is already an enormous relief. It will help me deal with immediate needs, and I am deeply grateful for it. But what I am desperately hoping for now is to find a way to make the rescue sustainable. I do not want to spend the rest of my life borrowing money to buy food, accumulating debts and living in fear that I will not be able to care for the animals tomorrow. I want to continue saving them — but I want to do it properly, safely and sustainably.

For many years, I have felt completely alone in this fight. Knowing that someone like you is willing to listen, understand and think about my situation gives me some comfort. Thank you, Amanda, for your compassion, for your trust, and for reminding me that I do not have to carry everything completely alone.

With heartfelt gratitude, Olfa Ferchichi

Please follow Olfa's Facebook page for updates and get in touch with her if you can help.

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