A Greek island offers a free room for cat lovers

A Greek island in the Aegean is offering cat lovers a room in exchange for looking after its strays. Syros Cats, a local welfare group, gives volunteers bed, breakfast, and utilities for about five hours of work a day, five days a week. The group is honest about what that involves. Applicants must be healthy, independent, and ready for dirty work, from litter trays to vet trips to reports on cats that stop eating. Nobody knows exactly how many strays live on Syros, but the group says sterilization is its main tool for reducing suffering. Applications for 2026 have already closed, with 2027 expected to open in September. The island first drew attention when a separate sanctuary, God's Little People Cat Rescue, advertised a live-in role caring for 55 cats. It received about 35,000 applications. Syros asks its volunteers to commit for at least one month. The reward is real. So is the labor.