Sophie felt pains in her belly. Instinct told her that she was due soon and an hour later a new being was brought into the world.

About three hours later, after having washed her babies properly, she lovingly cuddled them close and, while they contentedly sucked warm milk, she closed her eyes. Feeling exhausted after five hours of labour, Sophie slept.

The next morning, a lot of shouting could be heard coming from the house.

A pair of hands roughly snatched the four newborn kittens from Sophie and they were thrown into a plastic bag.

The bag was securely knotted up with the kittens wriggling inside it, still half asleep, not knowing what horrible fate awaited them.

The bag was thrown into a skip with the kittens meowing piteously for their mother. The cover of the skip was slammed down, muffling their tiny cries.

This is a true story. Fortunately, the kittens were saved by a man who went to the skip to dump some garbage and heard their cries. They have since been fostered and later adopted. They are now about eight months old.

The StreetCat Rescue wants to highlight these stories, because what happened to these kittens is something that happens quite frequently in Malta.

Kittens are put into plastic bags and thrown away, battered or drowned. They are left behind people's doors, in fields or near garbage heaps at the corner of the street.

Cats who live for years in a home and are treated as part of the family, are suddenly dumped because they are no longer wanted in the house; either because they are sick, old or pregnant or perhaps because there is a new baby in the home.

Cats which are brought up in a home environment do not know how to survive well when thrown out of the home. They especially suffer if they have been de-clawed or not neutered.

In every locality in Malta and Gozo, stray cats and kittens can be seen sheltering from the hot sun or rain under cars or roaming about the streets.

"Most of us feed and neuter them while many of us do not. Sometimes stray cats are found injured after being hit by a car or hurt by some other incident," the organisation said.

After having individually taken care of stray cats for over 10 years, a number of animal lovers have decided to come together as a team and form part of StreetCat Rescue.

A project plan has been structured with the aim of minimising the suffering of stray cats and kittens, as well as educating the public on animal welfare.

StreetCat Rescue believes in feeding, neutering, medicating and protecting the stray cats and kittens on our island. When possible, homes are found for abandoned cats, kittens and unwanted pets.

To succeed StreetCat Rescue needs all the help it can get. Even if people feel stray cats are a nuisance, they can help this voluntary organisation with neutering.

"If everyone works together as a community we will be able to minimise this problem," the organisation said.

Volunteers of all ages and from any locality are needed in the following areas:

• Fostering cats/kittens - to take care of a cat or kitten for some time until it is adopted.

• Socialising feral cats/kittens - taming cats/kittens to give them a better chance of being adopted.

• Feral trapping - to help catch cats which need to be neutered.

• Feline chauffer - to drive cats/kittens to the vet and back.

• Homing officer - to visit homes in groups of two before a cat or kitten is adopted.

• Emergency calls - going to wherever a cat/kitten emergency arises.

• Aftercare - keeping a neutered or injured cat after being treated medically.

If you wish to help send an e-mail to streetcatrescue@yahoo.co.uk or send a letter to Hello, PO Box 78 Birkirkara. Donations can be sent to the APS account 2000059470-3.

www.freewebs.com/streetcatrescue