Unsung Heroes: Crusader with a haven for waifs and strays

Sylvia Fairburn with 9-week-old kitten Sarah. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Sylvia Fairburn has been rescuing and nursing abandoned and stray cats at her Albany home for almost 15 years.

After a friend told her of the large number of stray cats and litters of kittens being abandoned in a neighbouring area, Mrs Fairburn said it was normal to want to do something about it.

"I said, 'So? What are you going to do?' She said: 'What? Nothing. It's not my problem'.

"That's when I thought, right, I better go and have a look."

Mrs Fairburn ended up taking about 30 kittens back to her home, where she took care of them, before passing them to good homes.

In 1995, she established the Forgotten Felines charitable trust, and in 2006 gave up her job in advertising to focus solely on her voluntary work. Thousands of cats have been through her home, she said.

Mrs Fairburn said she now had up to 40 volunteers who helped her do the work.

"We've rescued more than 300 in the past year and the majority of those were mothers who people abandoned them when moving house. It's unfair and careless."

Some cases have made the voluntary work hard. They include a litter left for dead in the middle of a golf course, and kittens found scrummaging for food in dumpsters.

"One little boy [kitten] we got was so beautiful. I put out milk, food - but he wouldn't eat. We took him to the vet and found that in his intestines, was plastic wrap. In the end he had to be put to sleep."

A website has since been set up, enabling families to apply to adopt a kitten.

Fellow volunteer Alison Lowndes nominated Mrs Fairburn as an Unsung Hero.

"This is one lady that really deserves to be an Unsung Hero. Without her, a lot of families would not have that special cat in their lives - a special cat that has been rescued from certain death, a kitten that has been rescued from a life of hell."