Vanessa, thirty-five, had three children with an abusive husband. She “lost her mind, started doing heroin”, after losing the children, who were taken away and given to her mother. The drugs led to homelessness and prostitution. She grew up on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, but now spends her time in Hunts Point, “trying to survive everyday. Just doing whatever it takes”.

“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”. – Franklin Briceno via Associated Press. (Photo by Martin Mejia/AP Photo)

Indian tourists walks during heavy snowfall by Dal Lake in Srinagar on January 6, 2017. The sub-zero temperatures has frozen many water bodies in Kashmir and even drinking water taps have frozen at some places. (Photo by Tauseef Mustafa/AFP Photo)

A Muslim woman reads the Quran following noon prayers on the first day of the holy fasting month of Ramadan at Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia, Monday, June 6, 2016. Devout Muslims began to celebrate Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar, refraining from eating, drinking, smoking and sеx from sunrise to sunset. (Photo by Tatan Syuflana/AP Photo)

Malabon Zoo owner Manny Tangco holds a full-grown but very small rooster named “Small But Terrible” from Malaysia to compare it with the giant red rooster from France named “Mr. Universe” as they are shown to the media as part of the “Roosters of the World” exhibition to celebrate the “Red Fire Rooster” in the Chinese lunar calendar Friday, January 27, 2017 in suburban Malabon city north of Manila, Philippines. The Roosters of the World exhibition features roosters from countries as the United States, Japan, United Kingdom, France, China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Poland. (Photo by Bullit Marquez/AP Photo)

Iraqi army soldiers fire mortars against the Islamic State militants, at Shahrazad village 2 miles (3 kilometers) east of Mosul, Iraq, Monday, November 14, 2016. A suicide bombing in Iraq targeted the Shiite sacred city of Karbala on Monday, killing at least six civilians, the latest attempt by the Islamic State group to distract from the government forces' offensive on the IS-held northern city of Mosul. (Photo by Hussein Malla/AP Photo)

Members of the Indonesian Presidential Security Forces (Paspampres) show their skills during the simulation of a terrorist attack in Jakarta, Indonesia, 29 December 2016. According to reports in local media the Indonesian security forces have already arrested 21 terrorists suspects and fatally shot five of them, who were allegedly planning attacks in the Indonesian capital during the Christmas and New Year's Eve celebrations this year. The presentation was shown on the occasion of a visit by Indonesian President Joko Widodo and a delegation to the Paspampres headquarters in Jakarta. (Photo by Bagus Indahono/EPA)

Two cocks are trained for a fight in a village in Nakhon Sawan province, Thailand January 10, 2017. (Photo by Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters)