Jamil Ismail with his two pet monkeys, JK and Shaki, which he considers to be his kids. — Picture by Saw Siow Feng

KUALA LUMPUR, June 14 — Jamil Ismail spends his days surfing the Internet and riding around Kuala Lumpur on his scooter with its leopard print paint job. As ordinary as it sounds, Jamil — better known as Jamil Kucing — is quite extraordinary as he makes a living out of rescuing abandoned animals, having done so for almost two decades now.

Jamil currently owns over 100 cats, one dog as well as two monkeys — JK and Shaki — that he considers to be his kids.

The animal lover was once the personal assistant to former prime minister Tun Hussein Onn and the Tengku Mahkota of Johor Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, but he gave all that up to fully commit to his passion to rescue animals full-time.

Flanked by JK and Shaki, the two monkeys he dresses up and brings on rescues, Jamil has big dreams of bringing animal rescue into the forefront of Malaysian legislation and to create a park in place of a shelter for abandoned cats.

He talks about animals, why he loves them and what he plans to do one day. Check out his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/jamilkucing.

In his own words: