He claimed to be spending 15,000rmb a month on cat food and eating only one meal himself, while he struggled to pay for rent. 鈥淭he only thing that will stop me,鈥� he told me, 鈥渋s death.鈥�
We published the article. And then it blew up. The animal welfare community jumped on it, relating stories of Shirazi being kicked out of their groups, refusing to provide receipts for his purchases or allowing people to follow his feedings to verify where the money was going. The accusation was that he was keeping at least a portion of the money for himself.
So I went back to Shirazi and asked for proof. The story changed. No, he was not spending 15,000rmb a month. It was 6,000. No, 9,000. No, 7,000. The suppliers were in Xinjiang or on Taobao or friends helped him purchase it, or it came from a pet food fund he had not told us about before, but, no, he could not show a month's records. I should have checked this earlier but, really, who wants to suspect a grandfatherly figure of mixing animal welfare and personal money?
Still, Shirazi clearly has a heart for cats and whether he is feeding 50 or 200, he is out there doing some good for stray cats. (Other rescuers criticize his opposition to Trap-Neuter-Release principles.) So his story stays but any request for donations has been removed from this article, and replaced with a link to .
Below, the man in his own words.
On Coming to China
I have an uncle who met Chairman Mao and Zhou Enlai in the 60s and Mao Zedong gave him a book of stamps of all the Chinese stamps. When he returned he gave it to me because I collect stamps and since that day I鈥檝e loved China and loved Mao.
I came here in 1997, doing business. I did really well in that period. In two years, I made enough money to open a factory in Brazil, manufacturing shoes and handbags for the Italian market. But that went down when the dollar collapsed and shoe prices doubled. A lot of my buyers moved to China, so I moved back in 2011. I thought, let me try again to make my fortune. But it鈥檚 very difficult. When I came in 1997 there was no competition. When I returned, things were very different. I was still doing business, trading, but it really declined tremendously, and I was doing a lot of business with Iran, and with the sanctions and stuff, that hit me tremendously, so I鈥檓 fairly back to square zero, actually.
It鈥檚 just a bad situation, very very bad situation, I鈥檓 really struggling to survive. But I鈥檝e got this thing about feeding cats. I was feeding them in Brazil and I鈥檝e been feeding them here for the last eight years. I haven鈥檛 missed a night, I haven鈥檛 missed a day. It鈥檚 very difficult for me to extract myself from this serious responsibility I鈥檝e taken upon myself.
On Family and Love
They鈥檝e become my family. I don鈥檛 only give them food, I also give them love and I teach them love. And part of them turn around, really somewhere very mean, you know, some really mean ones, they start reciprocating, I guess they鈥檝e given up on love because their lives are so miserable and so terrible. I mean I can literally feel their pain. Because I鈥檓 really into spirituality and yoga and meditation. I still feel like life is really beautiful if you can only allocate time towards understanding it. It is. Incredible. If it wasn鈥檛 for my spiritual strength, I probably would have buckled over, many times over.
The reason for my gravitating towards the cats is, I developed myself spiritually for many, many years since I was young, I have a lot of empathy in me. When you become more spiritual you tend to become more compassionate, and kinder and more loving, so, it鈥檚 because of empathy. I can literally feel the pain of the these cats, I mean literally feel it, it hurts my heart. So if you see them, they get their one meal and the way they eat their meal it鈥檚 like, how can anyone deprive anyone of a meal? And then there are people who poison them all the time, and that is a very emotional experience for me, because I can鈥檛 see suffering.
On The Divine Presence, and Cat Food
I had an incredible experience in 1988 when I was meditating and that changed my life actually. That was a complete life changer for me because I was meditating for like an hour and 45 minutes and I suddenly started feeling very light and I was feeling very nervous because it鈥檚 the first time I had experience something like this. And then suddenly I was immersed in love. This light, this bright light made of love, my hair was all standing up, it was like saluting to the divine presence, everything was like wow, every cell in my body was awakened by this experience and then I realized God is Love, a very very powerful force that lies very very silently within you and to reach it you have to go within, and the closer you go towards it, the more kinder, the more compassionate, the more empathetic, your humanity starts blossoming more. Our happiness is our birthright.
So because of my closeness to the divine presence I started sharing all its attributes really and that鈥檚 how this all came about. I was feeding cats in my compound, first I started off with that. And my wife was cool with it. Then I saw cats from the neighborhood coming in to eat their food. And I said, instead of them coming in, let me go out to them, so these guys have their food and they don鈥檛 have fights, so I started going out in the neighborhood, further and further, so I do like a 3-mile radius. It鈥檚 20 kilo of dry food and canned food. I always keep one can with me, I have one in my jacket, in case I see a cat, I always have one with me. It always happens that I see a desperate cat crying, so I always take some with me.
Then once you start feeding them, they expect you, so you go every day, and then my wife started giving me problems and then finally we split up 鈥� the cats were one of the main reasons. So I lost my son, he was two years old at that time, that was six years ago. But now he calls me ten times a day, they live very close by, very convenient.
On Struggles
I still love life, even though, really, I鈥檝e never been through such a difficult period. I鈥檓 struggling for rent, I鈥檓 struggling for food, it鈥檚 very difficult, I can鈥檛 get a job, I鈥檓 62 years old, so I鈥檓 in a quandary. I can鈥檛 go back to Pakistan, where I was born. My 8-year-old son is very attached to me.
On Giving Up The Cats and Nightly Feedings
I can鈥檛 give up the cats. Only death can pull me apart from them. I mean seriously. I cant, I cant, I cant. I can feel them waiting for me, they鈥檙e hungry, I can feel it. You know, if suddenly my business is going well or I hit a jackpot, I鈥檒l hire someone, someone honest, to make sure they get their one meal. Otherwise I鈥檒l have to do it myself.
Other people don鈥檛 have that drive, that passion, that love, that it takes to feed them. It takes a lot of love to feed them every night, sometimes until six in the morning. I start at normally 11, and I finish at 4.30am, 5am. But sometimes I have some problems, a cat in distress, cat in a tree, I have to help, or a poisoned cat, or I have to feed kittens鈥�
On Sick People and Death
There was a woman once staring at me. So I walked up to her and I said, oh you like cats? And she said, I Hate cats. I said, you hate cats? I said no no no no, you don鈥檛 hate cats. You actually hate yourself. How can you hate something 鈥� you don鈥檛 hate cats, I can help you, you need to bring some love into your life鈥� she just walked off. But a few days later, my favorite cat, a mother cat, I was feeding her for seven years, bright as hell, she got poisoned. By that woman. I know who is doing it. Because I am in that area. Very sick person.
The problem鈥� I think the cats should all die. Really. Their lives are daily nightmares, it鈥檚 a daily nightmare for them. And the thing is, when they get the rat poison, because that鈥檚 what they do, it鈥檚 cheap, the cheapest form of poison, what happens is they suffer for two days before they die. This organ is failing, that organ is failing, and they鈥檙e in pain. I usually find them on the last day, and I don鈥檛 take them to hospital because they are going to die anyway and I don鈥檛 have the money, so I just comfort them. They prefer to be with me. We cry together.
On Incarnation
I have five cats at home but I鈥檝e had over 100 in the last eight years. I mean, it鈥檚 inconvenient for me, they鈥檙e messy, I have to clean up all the time, but, you know, life is a sacrifice. I feel good that I can at least try to make this incarnation of their lives easier.
I very truly believe, I can feel it, that their souls were in human form before and they did some nasty things, some of them are really nasty. Otherwise it doesn鈥檛 make sense. Why would somebody go through so much suffering, and someone else has a good life. For me, this makes more sense, that they鈥檝e done something in a previous life, and now they are expatiating for their sins. This makes more logic.
They were human before. I think most people don鈥檛 become cats. But some terrible souls that have done some terrible things, put many people through pain and suffering鈥� they become cats.
On The Effect of Coronavirus
You know, since the outbreak, more cats suddenly emerge because a lot of people are not feeding them. Maybe they are afraid of them, thinking they will get some virus. But if you don鈥檛 feed them, their immune system is going to get very weak and then they ARE susceptible to getting all kinds of diseases.
Coronavirus has nothing to do with cats, you know? But I鈥檝e seen some cats recently, I think they were thrown out. Dogs too, I see them, it breaks my heart. Compassion is not restricted to species, everyone should be a recipient of kindness and love and all of that.
When I was growing up in Bangladesh, we had deer, rabbits, two monkeys, I had a baby mongoose 鈥� in fact, I feed mongoose here in Shanghai. They eat the cat food. Shanghai is full of them.
On His Calling and a Call For Help
It鈥檚 a higher calling for me. Feeding the cats. It鈥檚 spiritual calling. It鈥檚 the right thing to do, to help those that are dealt very bad cards. The Buddha said life is suffering. And our role in life is to lessen that suffering. Not just in our life but to reach out as many as you can.
I am now at 200, 220, 250 cats. It costs me 15,000rmb a month. And people are helping me, but not that much. People send me money on WeChat or send me cat food. But I really need the help. I鈥檓 dying, I鈥檓 crying, I just鈥� cannot stop feeding the cats. This idea, it really upsets me. I鈥檓 spending 15k and I鈥檓 still running short.
I love for people to exercise their kindness and compassion and love and join me and my rescue, or join me in any possible way, helping me feed these cats. Hear this plea very seriously. When you give, you receive also. I really need the help, I just cannot extricate myself from this enormous responsibility I鈥檝e taken on myself. It鈥檚 impossible. I鈥檇 rather be dead. I鈥檇 rather be dead. I鈥檓 serious.
People think I am crazy. My friends say, man you are crazy. Who is more important, the cats or you? they ask. I say, yes, the cats are more important.
What am I? I鈥檓 one life. They are hundreds of lives. Obviously they are. I really need the help.
How did we find this guy and is he for real? 香港六合彩资料网 found and approached Shirazi, not the other way around, through our trademark secret channels (a Rubik's cube and tea leaves). He did not come to us seeking money or exposure. We didn't ask for receipts to prove how much he spends on cat food but during our time with him, on two separate occasions, we found no reason to doubt him.
It turns out we should have.
After publishing the original article, a number of members of the animal welfare community contacted us to suggest he may not be completely transparent about his finances, a fact we confirmed in subsequent exchanges with him.
Sigh.
If you'd like to donate to a transparent organization, comes strongly recommended.
Create a new List