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The other day I was walking down the street in Perejil when I heard this pitiful meowing.

We have a lot of stray animals, mostly cats, in the neighborhood. We don't have animal control officers like they do in the States, nor a Humane Society as such that picks up abandoned animals, puts them up for adoption, and then kills them if nobody takes them in. Panamanians have a different concept of what's humane and what's cruel.

However, there are people in the neighborhood who do what they can to feed these cats and help them when they are sick or injured. I'm one of these people, but I have limited sources. Nevertheless, between me, the ladies next door and the woman who runs the kiosko on the corner, Leoncito and about a half-dozen other cats get fed and have clean drinking water.

But what to do when there's an animal in distress and you don't have the knowledge or resources to help?

One place to contact for advice is the Fundacion Humanitas, a charity that takes its inspiration from St. Francis of Assisi, the 13th century Catholic priest who was famously the friend of stray dogs. The foundation doesn'r really have the resources to handle Panama's huge abandoned animal problem, but they do what they can and they especially put a lot of effort into educating kids to be kind to animals.

If you know Spanish, find out more about Panama's Fundacion Humanitas from their website at http://www.geocities.com/WallStreet/4245/human.htm.

Oh, and that kitty in distress? It was a parrot, who has learned to mimic not only human voices.

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