Two Pallas' cats in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Wildlife Zoo Photo: Li Hao/GT

On the outskirts of suburban Jakarta, housewife Dita Agusta lives with more than 250 cats she has taken in off the streets, creating a shelter for  animals that she hopes will one day be adopted.

"It is hard to see abandoned cats on the streets," Agusta, 45, told Reuters. She had wanted to rescue cats since she was a child and saw stray cats running wild around her neighborhood.

When she and her husband, Mohamad Lutfi, a catfish farmer, moved four years ago from Bekasi city in West Java to a bigger house in Parung, south of Jakarta, she was able to take action and began taking in cats.

Now the couple spends at least one million rupiah ($72) a day to cover the cost of food, medicines and litter for the 250 cats they keep.

She says she does not take in healthy-looking cats, only ones that need help, and expects disabled cats to stay in her shelter forever.

In her home, all 250 cats are neutered to contain the population. 

Reuters