One of the most famous animals on the Internet is a cat rescued in Cyprus. But what is her full story?
Meet Gracie the cat. More than 30 million people saw it in the last week alone. She has hundreds of thousands of followers on social networks. But unlike most influencers, she doesn't live in Los Angeles or New York or London or Paris.
In fact, Gracie doesn't live in the city at all. She lives in one of the quiet mountain villages of Cyprus - Lefkara.
Better known as Gracie the cat, the cross-eyed ball of fluff has become a global phenomenon over the past six months. In a short viral video we hear her owner ask the question. And little Gracie, who is barely bigger than your palm, responds with a loud “Huh?”
The original video was liked by many people, and thousands of people from the USA, Sweden, Australia and Japan shared it on their social networks. She is now the most popular cat on Brazilian social media and even in the Philippines! And although she was barely a year old, this jet-black cat with her comically slanted eyes has already become an established meme.
But Gracie herself is completely unaware of her fame...
“I mean, she’s a little bit of a princess,” says owner Aileen Mymyunova. “She will only hug if she wants to and will often try to knock the phone out of my hand. But these are cats - they are a law unto themselves, aren’t they?”
Aileen has lived in Lefkara for six years and is an avid animal welfare volunteer. Born in Bulgaria, she lived in England for ten years before moving to Cyprus. But wherever she was, this artist always helped animals. Gracie was one of the rescued cats in Cyprus.
“I was at Governors Beach at the end of August last year,” Eileen explains. “There were a lot of stray cats there, very skinny-looking animals that were unlikely to survive the off-season. And among them was a little ball of black fluff who was fighting for scraps.”Gracie (named for her natural elegance) immediately stood out among others, infested with fleas and suffering from cat flu.
“I felt sorry for her with all my heart,” says Eileen. “I knew she wouldn’t survive the winter. So I picked her up and brought her home..."Eileen helps run the Lefkara Rescue Shelter, which works in partnership with UK charity STAR to treat and rehome dogs and cats. She'd seen it all in her time: deliberate poisoning, mutilation and abandonment. She speaks with horror of a regional "welcome center" that was immediately closed in 2018 after Animal Party discovered dogs were being deliberately starved. And she spends every free minute helping to house and raise funds for the island's homeless animals.
“At any given time, our Lefkara Shelter is full,” she says. “And that means I always have several cats at home. Gracie was one of them. I took a video of Gracie and posted it on social media."The video shows Gracie sitting on Eileen and meowing loudly.
“I shook the box of cat treats to make her sit still,” smiles Eileen. “And she was completely focused on it. She let out three squeaky meows and that was the entire video. Just a few seconds. I posted it one evening in December on the charity's TikTok page and went to bed..."The next morning, Eileen woke up to what she describes as “a tsunami of messages and hundreds of thousands of likes and shares.”
“I was shocked!” - she exclaims. “This little cat in Lefkara became a worldwide sensation literally overnight!”Gracie's fame increased even more when another TikTok user added the sound "Huh?"
“It wasn’t the sound she originally made,” says Eileen. “This is actually the sound of a baby making in another viral video, and someone added it over Gracie's meowing. But I don't care at all because it just increased the reach of the video—and the charity. Anything we can do to reach those who can help our saviors is critical, and Gracie's viral fame can do just that."Since then, Eileen has received thousands of offers to adopt Gracie. She politely declined them all...
“And so Gracie stays with me. Here in Lefkara. And her fan base continues to grow every day."Source: cyprus-mail.com
