She didn't expect such a buzz.
More than ten million views on Instagram and Tik Tok for her video of the rescue of a stray cat in Greece, treated and put back on its feet before being put up for adoption, have definitively removed Alexane Ricard from the anonymity.
Aged 25, the young woman has always wanted to work with animals.
Originally from Amance, a small village east of Aube, she passed her baccalaureate at the Chrestien high school in Troyes, before studying communications and marketing for three years in Lille (North).
Also read: The crazy story of the cat Minoche, who disappeared after an accident on the A10 and was found after five weeks
“I had an internship to do in 3rd year, that's where I discovered that I could put forward what I had learned for the benefit of animals.
It was always my goal but without being a veterinarian, because maths and sciences were not working,” she begins.
She was told that it was impossible, but Alexane managed to find an internship in Indonesia, in Bali, with a dog shelter.
“I was doing fundraising events.
» A great experience which lasted six months, before being interrupted by the Covid19 pandemic.
“If it had been up to me, I would have stayed there all my life,” she regrets.
Auboise Alexane Ricard multiplies cat rescues with her friend Amber in Greece and their group Saaving Lives
End of the dream, return to his parents in Amance.
“I immediately looked for a way to leave,” says Alexane.
It was then impossible to travel because of the virus, unless there was a job or volunteer offer.
“That’s where I found an association near Athens.
I stayed there for a few months, I met an English girl and we immediately got along very well.”
With Amber, Alexane pursued the same objective: to have her own association.
“So we founded Saving Lives!
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“You can quickly see in the eyes if a cat wants to escape”
Thanks to an entirely teleworking job, the Auboise settles in Greece and is fully committed to the project with her British comrade.
Focused on the TNR method, Trap-Neuter-Return (in French: We capture, we sterilize and we release), they launch sterilization campaigns among stray cats, to prevent them from multiplying at high speed, before having them adopted in France, England and Switzerland.
“In Greece, cats are mostly not seen as pets, but as environmental pests,” explains Alexane Ricard.
“Especially around municipal bins, because there are no individual bins in Greece.
There are colonies of cats in every trash can and kittens everywhere getting run over!
» Financed by English associations, with a helping hand from a few Trojan companies, Saaving Lives is gradually developing its activity in an apartment in Pórto Ráfti (Attica), one hour from Athens.
All thanks to friendly prices from local veterinarians.
Until the day a woman calls after discovering a cat paralyzed on all four legs in her garden.
Alexane goes there: “I’m taking him to the local vet.
Without much help, he clearly told me that she must have been hit by a car and that she had to be euthanized.”
Nothing to discourage the Frenchwoman, who has been used to working with cats for years.
“You can quickly see in the eyes if a cat wants to escape.
We could see that she was afraid, but that she was not on the verge of death.
» Head to another veterinarian, who finds nothing despite a battery of tests.
“But there was something that told me not to give up…” Alexane keeps the cat with her, cuddles her, feeds her and looks after her with lots of love.
“After a few weeks, I see her sitting in the room.
And, as the days went by, she managed to walk completely normally.
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350 adoption requests and hundreds of subscribers
The video of the beautiful story, published on Instagram and Tik-Tok, was commented and liked around the world.
“It gave hope to a lot of people,” emphasizes Alexane.
Enormous support which materialized in 350 adoption requests, many donations and the explosion in the number of subscribers on the social networks of Saving Lives, without forgetting the appeal of numerous journalists from all over the world.
Enough to make young volunteers want to continue the adventure.
“We also try to educate people about what it means to adopt a cat.
People say that it is less restrictive and less expensive than a dog and, in the end, that is not true,” recalls Alexane Ricard, who does not forget her roots.
“My whole family is in Aube.
My sister, who has a permanent makeup studio, created a network in Troyes.
She helps me a lot by sharing donation drives and cats up for adoption for her clients.
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