From Murmansk.travel (and other places) we hear about a Russian cat named Semyon (a Siamese) who got lost on a trip to Moscow and eventually traveled on his own to Murmansk (about 2000 km or 1200 miles) in a six-year journey. After he died they built him a monument (see below). The first bit seems to be translation from Russian:
Before the City Day in October 2013, a monument to the cat Semyon was unveiled on the embankment of the Semenovsky Lake. Its appearance is associated with a beautiful story based on real events.
In 1987, the Sinishin family was traveling home to Murmansk via Moscow. The Siamese cat Semyon traveled with the owners, but in the capital decided to take a walk on his own and jumped out of the car. They tried to find him, but the cat got lost among the lights of the big city. He returned six years later by himself! During his journey, the cat walked more than 2 thousand kilometers and showed up thin and tired on the doorstep of the apartment.
Bronze cat Semyon looks more solid than the original: it weighs almost 120 kg together with the bench, is 1.2 meters high, and 1.6 meters long. The sketch of the monument was drawn by the whole country, and was chosen by popular vote — the drawing of Nadezhda Vinyukova from Moscow won. It was embodied by the Ural masters-the sculpture workshop of Yuri Borisenkov and the foundry workshop “Dubrovin”.
In place of Semyon’s cat, a monument to Cthulhu, canned fish, cod, polar bear or penguin could appear. But it was purr who scored the most points in the popular vote. The money for its creation was collected by the whole city.
Semyon’s cat can be safely called the most popular and family monument of Murmansk and the first frivolous small architectural form in the city. It was included in the Top 15 of the kindest monuments in the world.
And here’s the monument, described by Grok thusly:
On October 2, 2013, a bronze monument to Cat Semyon was unveiled on the embankment of Semenovskoye Lake (Семёновское озеро) in Murmansk (near ul. Geroyev Severomortsev). The statue depicts a plump, content-looking cat sitting on a bench, holding a traveler’s bundle tied to a stick over his shoulder—symbolizing his long journey. It weighs about 120 kg and stands over 1 meter tall. An inscription reads “Кот Семён” (“Cat Semyon”). Visitors often sit beside him, rub his nose for good luck while making a wish, or simply admire the tribute to loyalty. The monument is a popular local attraction and part of guided tours.
Here’s a FB post about Semyon’s adventure and another picture of the statue. Sound up!
And the only YouTube video I can find: four minutes about Murmansk and Semyon. If you’re Russian, you’ll understand it. But you can still benefit from watching it.
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Here’s a story from The Washington Post about a real Cat Lady: an American in Dubai with a big heart. Click below to read it; it goes to a YouTube video that I’ve below:
The YouTube explanation:
Dina Taji has been giving stray cats in the United Arab Emirates a second chance at life at her shelter near Dubai. She said that she’s been able to rescue more than 3,000 cats over the years and built a shelter that now cares for about 600 rescues. She says help includes medical treatment, rehabilitation and long-term care.
When she started caring for strays, she had no car and would instead put them in a backpack and take them to the vet on bicycle. For her, seeing their recovery has made all of the bills worth it.
Dina is a fitness “influencer”, and you can read about her here. The cat part of her story is this:
. . . there’s another side to me that I want to share—it’s something very close to my heart. I’m also an animal rescuer, especially for cats. Living in the UAE, I’ve seen so many cats abandoned, sick, or injured because of illegal breeders or just neglect. It started with me putting out food bowls for strays, but it quickly turned into rescuing, doing TNR (trap-neuter-return), and eventually creating a sanctuary with my best friend.
This year alone, we’ve rescued over 1,000 cats and now care for 450+ in a seven-bedroom villa. Half of them are recovering from illnesses like ringworm or parvo, and the rest are ready for adoption. We even built a special catio for FeLV+ cats—ones most people would give up on—so they can live happy lives tooI won’t lie—this journey is anything but easy. Caring for over 450 cats is incredibly expensive. Vet bills, food, litter, medicine—it all adds up quickly, and with no government support, we’ve had to take on cases that most would avoid because of the high costs. But this mission is bigger than just what we’re doing now.
We’ve learned so much from running our sanctuary—how to care for sick and injured cats, prevent cross-contamination, and create systems that actually work. Our dream is to take everything we’ve built, everything we’ve learned, and create a large, state-of-the-art shelter that can serve as a model for others. We want to inspire and equip people across the UAE to create similar sanctuaries, using what we’ve learned as a template to make a real, lasting difference.
This isn’t just about sustaining the cats we already have—it’s about solving the stray cat crisis in the UAE. We want to save them all and give every cat a chance at a better life. Every single bit of support we receive feeds directly into this vision. Every sign-up on my fitness app helps us get closer to building that future. It’s not just about getting fit—it’s about being part of something bigger, part of a mission that’s full of purpose and heart.
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When you see a cat walk onstage and is applauded, it’s almost always in Turkey, for the Turks love their cats, and there are many tame ferals wandering free. Here’s a feline doing some scene-stealing in a ballet production of Romeo and Juliet. The YouTube notes:
Everyone came to watch Romeo and Juliet. Nobody expected the real star to be a cat. During the final scene of a ballet performance in Turkey, a curious ginger cat wandered onto the stage and decided that Romeo’s hair was far more interesting than Shakespeare. The audience couldn’t stop laughing. Juliet tried to save Romeo. The cat had other plans. And by the end of the performance, the entire theater had fallen in love with the unexpected guest.
This is hilarious. I like it when Juliet tries to drag the cat away from Romeo, and later when the cat takes a bow at the end.
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Lagniappe: A friend recently sent me two scanned photos taken years ago with my late cat Teddy. He was a rescue cat who came in through the catflap of my prior digs. He’d lived on the streets of Chicago for several years as a stray, and after he came in, he never went out again. I thought he was a yellow cat, but it turned out that that was oil on his fur he acquired from huddling under cars. In reality, after several baths I realized he was pure white. I loved him a lot:
h/t: Thomas, Marion, Anne