CWS: A Look Ahead

Cat Welfare Society has had a solid month of fundraising with the LPN Cat Day at Suntec City, the Cat’s Night Out “In Search of the Most Beautiful Domestic Cat” at Jurong Point and that unforgettably tongue-in-cheek STrip “What’s New Pussycat?” campaign.


Besides raising funds for stray sterilisation, these light-hearted occasions gave us a rare chance to let our hair down with other cat groups, volunteers and with the public.

Now the fun is over, it is time to get back down to the serious business of cat welfare.

Engaging govt agencies

CWS is planning a series of engagements with AVA, HDB and Town Councils. And it cannot be timelier that Sunday Times dedicated a full page on animal welfare last weekend, giving voice to the poisoned bayshore cats, abandoned animals and tireless animal welfare volunteers.

(They had to juxtapose it with an article on our good friend Mr TTK to provide a perfunctory journalistic balance to the spread, but that is easily forgiven. A contrary article on a less controversial figure would have been more detrimental. So thank you, Sunday Times.)

Also featured in the full page coverage is a small victory for cat welfare. AVA has put it on record, “AVA… is again open to subsidising the cost of sterilisation of stray cats, if caregivers, town councils and communities are willing to participate.”

So our upcoming meeting with them can now fast track to the mechanics of the stray cat sterilisation scheme: what is required of town councils and volunteers, and how to streamline the scheme for greater success.

After which, we can start working with dedicated caregivers whose stray management work in their areas through Trap-Neuter-Release-Manage or TNRM, mediation and community building work has reached a healthy maturity. We will talk to their Town Councils first.

How you can help:
If you are a caregiver with a well managed cat community, come forward. Also start keeping records of the number of cats in your neighbourhood, the number of cats you have sterilised, your encounters with Town Councils and the number of complaints handled as these will go a long way when we engage them.

If your area does not have a TNRM programme, start one! Look out for our upcoming stray cat management workshop and meet-up on how to get started.

Sterilisation

CWS continues to single-mindedly put our funds into subsidising the sterilisation of stray cats. All our fundraising efforts are for this very purpose.

We get appeals from time to time to provide financial help for caregivers in need and for cat rescues. And this the committee members and volunteers do on our own personal basis.

The reason CWS funds are not diverted that way is this: The cold honest truth is that we have had to dig into our reserves last year to cover sterilisation and medical subsidies. And one had to go. It is a sign of the times that donations are down and reimbursements for subsidies are up.

We must keep stray cat sterilisation going simply because sterilisation makes the biggest impact to the welfare of our cats in the long run. It is this consistent, demanding, unglamourous work by dedicated caregivers and volunteers that provides a compelling reason for AVA to enter into a dialogue with cat welfare advocates. And we cannot afford to derail now.

The moment the government finally takes on the funding of stray cat sterilisation, that will really open up everyone’s resources to help the sick and suffering.

That moment is close and what will get us there is to make sure more community cats are sterilised and managed.

How you can help:
Start a TNRM programme in your neighbourhood. The next best thing is to sponsor a sterilisation!

Mediation

This is something that we struggle with immensely because we don’t have a full-time person in CWS. The committee members and volunteers handle our cases after hours or through phones and emails.

Mediation remains the most stressful, unrewarding part of cat welfare work. Being yelled at by irate people with cat pee on their slippers after a long day at work is not anyone’s idea of a fulfilling existence. But we still do it, together with our network of caregivers and volunteers because it goes hand in hand with TNRM. Stray management just doesn’t work without it.

What we find is that people come to CWS for a magic pill. And five after-hours dispensers to pill an entire nation is beyond ridiculous. We need more mediators.

It is a fact that Singaporeans hold an uncanny esteem for authority. People from an organisation are often seen as more respectable than someone from the neighbourhood. That is how Singaporeans work, so “I am from Cat Welfare Society” goes a long way. But anyone with the passion, a little gumption and knowledge can register with CWS and fulfill this role. And all the better if they are actual residents in the neighbourhood.

These resident mediators have their nose on the ground, they get to the problems quicker and they can better establish long term relationships with the Town Council officers and other residents. Town Councils can’t ignore them simply because they are residents, therefore constituents and more importantly, voters.

The magic pill? Don’t yell back and don’t wear your house clothes when mediating.

As much as mediation is daunting and completely thankless, just a word from you can save a cat from being caught and culled. If you are lucky, you can instill a little conscience in the neighbourhood, one cheesed off resident at a time.

How you can help:
If you want to be a mediator for your neighbourhood, register with CWS and contact your Town Council officer. Also look out for our upcoming stray cat management workshop and meet-up on how to get started.


Beyond CWS

If you have been following the posts and thread on the Cat Welfare Society’s Facebook page, you would have a good idea of the spectrum of cat welfare activities required to fully tackle an issue as broad as cat welfare.

There are the numerous appeals for medical fees for sick or injured cats, the many catteries and shelters in trouble in these tough economic times, cats and kittens that need fosterers and homes, AVA officers and Town Council officers to negotiate with and the unenlightened public to educate. As individuals, where do we start?

My own experience with the animalfamily is to start where your passion takes you. I started with the rescue and adoption of an old mangy toothless cat that stole my heart.

6 years on, the family has 10 cats at home, 40 cats fostered (and thankfully rehomed), hundreds sterilised and we dream of a cattery. We have seen cat shelters and their antithesis, cat hoarders and left a part of ourselves with each and everyone of these animals, the cheery ones, the sadly neglected, the dying and the dead.

Still, it is not enough. There must be a more sustainable solution to the plight of our cats, the kind that makes it less necessary to take cats off our streets for anything other than to loving homes. This will happen only when the responsibility for stray cat welfare is not just on caregivers but the entire nation. That is the prize worth working towards.

continuing stroke of luck with new TC officer

We have a new TC officer and she is a cat-lover! There has been some complaints about the number of community cats in the estate but she lets it be known that the TC abides by the general rule that sterilised cats will not be removed.

The sun is finally shining on our estate.

But the area she is referring to is a problematic one that keeps us busy catching and sterilising every few months. There must be at least one chronic breeder upstairs if not more. The officer has spotted kittens in one of the corridors and the woman will hopefully be able to follow the lead this time to the culpable unit.

The woman also reconnected with a feeder who discovered an old hoarder in the neighbourhood. The old cleaner lives with her mentally challenged brother and 20 cats, although the number can’t be confirmed as the old woman opens her door only enough to speak through it. Even so, the putrid stench can fell a grown man. Only seasoned cat aunties like the woman and the feeder are able to stand their ground without so much as an involuntary nose twitch as they coax the old woman to let them sterilize and install grills for much-needed ventilation.

They met minor success when the old woman agreed to neuter her male cats. The whole experience brought forth geriatric tears as she passed the cats out to the woman one by one. It’s a start. She has still to relent on the females and help in cleaning and grilling. At least there will be no more new litters for now.

These are the small victories that the woman keeps her eyes on when the decision to fund cat welfare efforts becomes more complex in our present economic climate. Yet all the more, it calls for dedication and determination from volunteers and sponsors to stay the course. It will really be a crying shame if we let our collective labours be undone by a prolonged but ultimately temporary bad situation.



Ginger needs you!

leukemia's back

after a couple of sluggish, embarrassing and ultimately failed attempts at using the cat traps leading up to the many festive distractions of december, woman completely forgets about her resolution to sterilise the community cats until today when in a fit of activity, she nabs 2 cats on the way back from late night shopping at mustafa. so leukemia is back. and a never before seen cat with a warped Escherisque tail, bent in 2 places to resemble a Penrose triangle.

the cats are quarantined in the toilet and that makes us one animal too many in our 7 residents, 7 squatters 2006 household census. and the woman is going on about how Escherisque tail is rare for a domestic short-hair, luxurious and soft to the touch. eh, don't get any funny ideas lady, one more resident and we are officially slumming.

i am in a mood today. letters to Town Council about potential animal abuse have come to naught. 2 times already, a certain politician comes back with standard replies on necessity of animal control and no feeding and allowing stray cats in our estates. excuse me, i am asking you what is being done about cleaners taking their own initiative to kill the cats by whatever means available to them. witnessed practices: poisoning of cats and bagging kittens alive and throwing them in the trash. he skirted the issue completely in his first reply, and only on further insistence does he say they will instruct cleaners accordingly.

that is an appalling lack of reading comprehension or respect. so estate beauty more important than value of life, is it? feedback on potential animal abuse case becomes another avenue for them to read residents their riot act.

this makes me more inflamed about their ridiculous stance on not allowing stray cats in our community, he says we need to take into consideration of others living in the community. HDB and Town Council have received many complaints on stray nuisance and we need to remove strays.

what about people who value the lives of strays animals and want to see them well taken care of? don't they have a voice in the community that also requires action from the authorities?

to be in keeping with the stray policy, it requires in most circumstances for people who care to consciously walk away from animals in destitute or distress. that's asking them to give up a part of who they are. Compassion and social conscience are not attributes that can be turned on for politically correct causes and off for unpopular ones. you want to promote volunteerism and philanthropy in Singapore, here's your citizens, auntie and uncle giving of own time and money everyday, others trapping and neutering, still others rehoming. but what the authorities are saying is sorry hoh, only for the causes we like, ok? no wonder so many disillusioned, complacent, indifferent people here.

if you are as inflamed as i am, give a shout to your Town Councils today: set guidelines, not DEADlines.

new kitty found

cleaner that alerted man and woman about Suede and her siblings brings them a new kitten found at a neighbouring block. he also says that Pest Control will be down soon to catch the cats in the neighbourhood. news like that really ruins my day. hopefully the woman can get more information from Town Council and AVA on this.

kitty has a sibling still out there that hopefully the man and woman or cleaner can get to before Pest Control does.

cats don't belong here

the woman is told that cats are not allowed as pets in hdb.

she remembers reading something like this on an expat website and presumes it misinformed as it sounds ridiculous. she even laughed at the misconceptions ang mohs have about tight-assed singapore. but now she hears it from the officer at the town council.

the woman is calling town council about the people who came round to investigate the complaints about stray cats. she wants to know what they do with the animals that are rounded up if it ever comes to that. the officer is sympathetic enough. it is the town council's job to investigate complaints but it is a grim detestable job rounding up cats and they rather not have to do it. so they hope crusading cat-loving people like the woman will clean up after the cats, sterilise them and keep them out of the way of crabby cat haters.

i wonder if people appreciate the irony here. so hdb cat lovers gets to own all the responsibilities but not the pet. so when is a cat a pet? i would assume if you feed it, care for it, it is a pet. presume they mean to draw the line at keeping us as indoor pets. the reason being, cats cannot be kept indoors, they tend to roam and cause nuisance to residents. so the solution is to keep them all outdoors and roaming. i'd like to pick that brain.

Streats Cat Welfare Society Asia Homes Wild Singapore

i am a cat illegally kept in a 3-rm hdb and have no power or influence whatsoever on anyone about this mind-bloggling policy. in fact, as a cat, i have a case against myself as an easy pet to keep. La Idler is much too kind to say that after spaying (sterlising) we don't go for walks, caterwaul and we don't drool. period. well s/he hasn't met me, and i have been spayed twice.

if we sneak into your house uninvited, caterwaul, fight, give you the evil eye, please remember that we are just being our god-given selves. if we are particularly errant, please remember that even for humans, a neglected life makes anyone a little paranoid and a little desperate.

i have a great home and am well fed, but i am not dead. i don't do many of the things that strays do but i have a natural curiosity and i protect my territory because after all i am a cat. i drool because i am old and can't always control my facial muscles.

fromhell strikes the right note. you build the city the way you want and we are stranded in it. cats have no natural habitat. star tortoise can at least claim the indian semi-desert or forest as their rightful home. so if you must blame someone for our detestable existence, blame the eqyptians for domesticating us back in 4000BC.

or the people who dump their pets on the streets. especially them.

i never thanked the uncles and aunties enough for leaving food out for strays those long days i spent on the streets. they help keep us sane. i remember an auntie getting an earful from this guy who claims that she is attracting more and more cats into the neighbourhood and thus more noise/mess/trouble.

if i had the words i would tell him that if auntie did not feed us, we would not quietly go away because cats have all available urban territories covered. there are 80,000 of us out there. we will be hunting, scavenging and fighting for survival and that is much more trouble than he can imagine. worse, more of us get diseased.

of course, many cat haters would like to see us rounded up and culled. i say culled because what are the chances that we are claimed or adopted? even if there are irresistable cats in our demographics and gene pool, hdb rules out 86% of the population as potential adopters. thankfully, culling is a danger word in the govt's vocabulary. the govt been there done that during sars and was rewarded with scathing local and international press for an uncompassionate, unprogressive singapore. Sydney Morning Herald Singapore Veterinary Association CatSite.com

but the woman remains paranoid that there might be discreet ways of getting rid of cats because no one keeps track of us.

she can't understand how someone can love their families and not have compassion for the rest of humankind. how they can love their kids without an ounce of sympathy for living breathing animal life. love is compassion and empathy. if you can extend to one why not to all. of course, humans are limited and naturally selective and can spread their love only in varying degrees. but an about-turn calls into question the quality of the way the person loves. it tells you the person expects returns on their love and so it is bestowed only on those that directly benefit their lives.

another sterling example of Singapore's apathy towards animals Singapore Govt Strikes Again Noah’s Ark Natural Animal Sanctuary (NANAS) now resides in Pekan Nanas, Johor.