UAE resident gives stray cats a 'second chance' at her Ajman shelter

Dina Taji started out cycling rescued cats to the vet in a backpack. Today, the UAE resident runs a shelter in Ajman filled with strays pulled off the streets.

Taji started caring for strays after moving to the United Arab Emirates around 20 years ago, when she noticed a handful of cats outside supermarkets. She started with no car, cycling rescued cats to the vet, and says that watching them recover made every bill worth it.

Taji shared footage of her rescuing stray cats in Dubai. Reuters verified the location from the buildings, the road layout and the pylons seen in the videos, which matched satellite and archive imagery of the area. The date when the videos were recorded was verified by the metadata on the original video files.

With cats sprawled across her on a couch in her Dubai home, Taji said that people tend to think helping animals requires a lot of resources, when in fact "doing what we can, what we're capable of is all that matters."

Two days later at her shelter Dubai Street Kitties in Ajman, she sat on the floor among the cats she had taken in, many of which were injured, blind, paralysed or abused.

Taji told Reuters that she had managed to rescue over 3,000 cats over the years and built a shelter that currently cares for about 600 rescued cats. 

Helping the cats also included medical treatment, rehabilitation and long-term care, she added.

The shelter's website mentions that all its cats are tested, vaccinated, spayed or neutered and microchipped, with the goal of finding each one a permanent home through an on-site adoption centre.

Street cats face infectious diseases, painful skin conditions and a lack of food, water and basic veterinary care, according to a 2025 report published by Khalifa University Science and Tech Review.

The review said many had been dumped by previous owners and could not fend for themselves, with summer temperatures that can reach 50 degrees Celsius adding to the problem.

Camera & Production: Abdelhadi Ramahi, Editing: Abdelhadi Ramahi and Zainab Elhaj, Writing: Zainab Elhaj, Verification: Seoyun Kang, Aaron McNicholas/Reuters