The government is looking to set up more zones in Male’ and Hulhumale’ for the rehabilitation of stray cats on the streets of the capital, the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Welfare has revealed.
MaleCity Council officially handed over the Olhuhiyaa cat shelter to the Ministry on 26 February.
Olhuhiyaa is a government-established shelter set up to care for stray cats on the streets of Male’ City. The shelter was developed on a 5,000-square-foot plot in Hulhumale’. The state-of-the-art facility was inaugurated by President Dr Mohamed Muizzu in November 2024.
State Minister for Agriculture and Animal Welfare Ali Sofwan Ibrahim said many facilities had not been established when the city council handed over the shelter to the Ministry. He said the lack of proper facilities including cat houses has made it difficult for the Ministry to effectively bring the shelter to operational capacity.
According to Sofwan, the stray cats will be rounded up in batches, adding that despite the lack of facilities the first batch of 15 cats have already been taken to shelter.
He also revealed that the plan is to transfer the cats after rehabilitation to special zones in Male’and Hulhumale’.
"Our plan is to potty train and vaccinate the cats during their time here [shelter]. We will designate zones in the city away from residential areas. The future plan is to designate the areas where the cats can live where we will set up cat food and litter,” he explained.
Sofwan said efforts are underway to bring the cat shelter to full operational capacity.