Cat gets "asylum" in Australia

MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) - A ginger and white cat housed for months at an Australian-funded refugee detention centre in Papua New Guinea arrived here after a campaign by animal lovers.

Honey the stray was asylum seeker Aladdin Sisalem's only companion apart from his guards as he was held for 10 months as the sole detainee on the Manus Island camp, off the PNG coast, under Canberra's so-called Pacific solution to stem the flow of illegal immigration

The Kuwaiti-born Palestinian was granted refugee status in May but Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone was adamant that the cat was staying.

"We are in the business of bringing people here who are most in need and that does not include pets, budgies and other assorted paraphernalia," she said at the time.

Animal lovers took exception to the stance and private individuals eventually offered to meet the cost of reuniting the feline with her doting owner.

Sisalem said his first thought on learning he had been granted an Australian visa was Honey's fate and he believed "Honey is a refugee now".

He said the cat was settling in as it prepared for 60 days in quarantine.

"I will go and visit her because she's very confused about the situation here and has some stress," he said. "She's confused -- but she still loves me like before."