At her job, Maria Torero cares for sick human beings. At home, she lavishes love on slowly dying cats — 175 of them at last count.

The 45-year-old nurse has turned her two-story, eight-room apartment into a hospice for cats with feline leukemia, scattering it with scores of feeding dishes and at least two dozen boxes litter boxes.
Some have suggested she shelter healthy cats instead. “That’s not my role,” she told The Associated Press. “I’m a nurse. My duty is to the cats that nobody cares about.”

She said that “people don’t adopt adult cats, especially if they are terminally ill.” (AP)

In this Aug. 2, 2014 photo, Maria Torero, plays with a group of 175 cats
with leukemia in her home in Lima, Peru. Torero says caring for cats
with feline leukemia is her responsibility. Anybody else can care for
healthy animals. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)