Pets Without Borders

All Aboard the Meezer Express

A Siamese cat named Duke was passenger of honor on the maiden voyage of the Meezer Rescue Express.

During the trial run, five drivers transported Duke by automobile over 1,200 miles from a shelter in Kansas to a Virginia home-sweet-home with switchover stops along the way in Missouri, Kentucky, and West Virginia.

Today, the handsome seal point is poster feline for the Meezer Express, a network of 423 volunteers in 47 states and Canada that drives, relay style, rescued Siamese cats to fresh starts.

Duke's photo is on buttons worn by the volunteer drivers and he's the cover cat on the Meezer Express web pages. The eight-year-old kitty's early hardships, as well as his inaugural journey, make him an apt symbol for the Siamese Rescue Alliance.

The Alliance, which sponsors the Meezer Express, has rescued more than 1,200 cats over the past two years - springing Siamese from shelter death rows, plucking strays from the streets, and accepting cats from anguished owners forced by circumstances to relinquish their beloved Siamese.

The Alliance has rescue centers in Topeka, Ft. Worth/Dallas, and Locust Dale, Virginia. The director of each center harbors rescued Siamese in her home or in foster homes, finds adopters, and, in one-third of all placements, relies on the Meezer Express to transport the cats to new horizons.

Attorney Charisse Powell launched the Kansas rescue after a stint at a Topeka shelter acquainted her with the alarming number of Siamese that are put down.

"I adopted a Siamese that had been hissing and growling at the shelter," Powell says, "and within a couple of days, she was a perfect cat. The stress of the shelter is so hard on Siamese, they often quit eating or are so hostile they don't get adopted."

Powell mounted a local campaign, sheltering cats in her home and publicizing their availability through signs and notices.

She rescued Duke after his elderly owner died and he was discovered days later in shock beside her body. Twenty-four hours after she found him a home, Duke was returned for watching a parakeet. "He never bothered my birds," says Powell. "They didn't give him time to adjust."

Meanwhile, in Virginia, Siri Wine was looking for a Siamese. "I e-mailed Charisse," Wine recalls. "When she described Duke and his background, I said, 'That's the one for me.' "

By the time Wine came up with the idea of a relay system to bring Duke from Kansas to Virginia, she had launched a Siamese rescue of her own and had informally joined forces with Powell.

In June 1998, Powell drove Duke from Topeka to St. Louis. "Handing him over was tough," she says.

The successful first run of the Meezer Express led to the addition of transportation directors Debbie Burg and Geoff Shrives. The Colorado couple coordinates the travel itinerary for Siamese saves through a web of cat-loving motorists - college students, professionals, and retirees.

In early 1999, the third center joined the Siamese Rescue Alliance. Tonja Pfister, head of a consulting firm, supervises the Ft.Worth/Dallas center.

Wine, a teacher turned rescuer, became Alliance director and built a shelter on her property, complete with an isolation room, an area for senior Siamese (Geezer Meezers) and office space, for the 30 to 40 cats that she routinely shelters at her home.

No one in the Alliance is paid. Expenses are covered through adoption fees ($75), donations, fund-raisers, and sales on the Alliance's Internet retail shop of Siamese-theme merchandise.

The Alliance is largely an e-rescue that has rapidly become an international undertaking thanks to www.siameserescue.org, which features photographs and bios of Siamese seeking homes.

Many people are surprised that one of the world's most appealing cat breeds needs rescuing. "But, just like all cats," says Wine, "Siamese are victims of death, divorce, moving, allergies."

Others wonder about long road trips for a species that famously doesn't travel well. Powell says Meezers have demonstrated a tolerance for travel through trips to the vet. And the Alliance finds local placements or uses air travel for cats allergic to car rides.

Duke himself was a model of composure during his cross-country journey. And even though the dignified seal point is quiet by nature, Wine insists that the most vocal of Meezer Express passengers often lapses into a contented silence during trips.

Says Wine: "I believe these cats are so smart, they know they're going to a permanent home."

For further info, contact Charisse Powell at KSsrc@siameserescue.org.

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