According to the Municipal Animal Ombudsman, the initiative aims to reinforce the importance of inclusion; at the same time, it tries to connect humans and animals. The challenge was accepted “with enthusiasm” by the Belmar da Costa Centre of the Lisbon Cerebral Palsy Association (APCL) users, which were made responsible for the creation of eco-friendly shelters made of metal, which otherwise would have become waste. The three first shelters, which were created using metal drums, are going to be placed in the Tapada das Necessidades, in the parish of Estrela, Lisbon.

In a statement, Odete Nunes, the technical coordinator of Centro Nuno Belmar da Costa, emphasised the “huge importance” of these types of actions, as she reinforces that the needs for those stray cats go beyond food. As Odete added, besides being “a fantastic action in favour of animal welfare” the Lisbon Municipal Animal Ombudsman's programme also encourages users to happily express their artistic abilities and dynamism when decorating shelters.

The Capture, Sterilise and Return (CED) program, which has been implemented at national level in order to try to control the cat colonies present in Portugal, has identified so far 1,500 colonies of felines which consisted of about 13 thousand stray cats. According to the Municipal Animal Ombudsman of Lisbon this program “is extremely important to guarantee and safeguard the well-being of stray felines and public health.”