SOFT-SPOKEN Anna Lyn and her team of volunteer rescuers from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) Kota Kinabalu are counted on by the city folk to handle stray animals, whether in the pockets of forests around the city, or in monsoon drains.

Anna, 40, operates an animal shelter from her house at Taman Kingfisher in Likas, Sabah, since 2014, where she cares for over 60 cats and 15 dogs.

But on any working day, she lectures English at a local public higher learning institution.

Her fondness for animals was nurtured by her late mother who let her to grow up surrounded by pets as Anna was a single child.

But Anna is also a Malay and Muslim, and in Malaysia, that can pose problems despite her best intentions to care for animals.

She has endured scorn from other Muslims since she started animal rescue work but says this has not dampened her spirits.

"They often say stuff... that what I'm doing will not get blessings from God, but I have become immune to them," she said.

Anna, however, feels she is not alone. She says there are other fellow-rescuers who are Muslim like her in Kota Kinabalu, who embrace their calling as protectors of helpless strays.

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