His name is Igor, but they call him Catman. He goes into action when darkness falls, to avoid detection by the police. His mission? To rescue desperate cats trapped in the basements of apartment blocks across Moscow.
No one knows exactly how many homeless cats there are in Russia, but every year large numbers perish after crawling into basements through open air vents that are then sealed shut by council workers. Due to a combination of factors, ranging from banal bureaucracy to the illegal use of basements as storage facilities, officials are often reluctant to reopen the air vents — even if it means that cats, including newborn kittens, suffer slow and painful deaths from starvation.
That’s where Catman and other animal rescue workers come