Everybody wanted to adopt him, so the San Francisco animal shelter decided to hold a lottery. And last week, an Iranian-American woman became the joyous owner of Maloos, who is now happily ensconced in California wine country.
Laila Aghaie took white-and-orange tabby Maloos to her family’s home in Napa last week after she won the lottery held by San Francisco Animal Care and Control (ACC).
Maloos’ tale began on a Tehran sidewalk in April, where a passerby found him stuck to the pavement, soaked in gasoline and mud and covered with abscesses. He had shrapnel in his face, a deformed hind leg and spine problems, rendering him immobile, ACC spokeswoman Rebecca Katz said.
The Tehrani who spotted the cat called Sayeh Animal Guardians. Someone in that organization knew a person who was about to fly to San Francisco and could take the cat.
Sayeh reached out to San Francisco Animal Care and Control for help and it agreed to treat the injured feline.
Word of Maloos’ arrival in San Francisco became big news in the local media. Aghaie told the Bay City News Service that she read an article online about Maloos and said, “I have to at least meet him.”
She made the trek into the city, saw Maloos—whose name means “cute”—and instantly feel under the cat’s spell.
She filed her name for the lottery to adopt Maloos, understanding that the chances were slim.
Aghaie, whose father was Iranian-born, was born in America but moved to Esfahan when she was 8 years old. She stayed there through 1979, when she returned to the US.
She told the Bay City News Service that while living in Esfahan she saw the rough life street animals faced and the few resources to help homeless cats and dogs.
She said she had adopted a kitten from an animal shelter as a girl in Esfahan and saw Maloos as her connection to her Persian past.
“There are so many dark stories about Iran…. This just gives everyone a little brightness,” she said.
Last week, while chaperoning a school camping trip in the mountains with little cellphone service, she received a belated message that she had won the lottery and could take Maloos home. “I almost cried,” she said. “I’ve never won a lottery of my life!”
Last Wednesday evening, she brought Maloos home to start his life with her husband, Jim, and their two children.
“This isn’t just any cat; this is more than that for me,” she said.
Aghaie is the director of the Napa Valley Writing Project, part of a nonprofit organization that works with young students to publish their own writings. She has decided to turn Maloos’ story into a children’s book.
She reports that Maloos is adjusting well to life in wine country.
When he first arrived in San Francisco, he underwent several surgeries, one of which amputated a badly mangled rear leg. The ACC outfitted Maloos with a “wheelchair” to give him mobility. However, Aghaie said he has been managing without his wheels and likes scoot-ing around on three paws—which he does with considerable speed and agility
She described the two-year-old tabby as “unusually friendly and not afraid of peopleÖ. He’s been through the fire and come out the other side of it. He has no fear left.”