Cat management courses for Town Council officers
TODAY
Voices
Monday • February 2, 2009
Letter from Dr Tan Chek Wee
I refer to “No easy solution for strays”(Jan 30).
The AVA’s stand is “It is a fact that stray cats, including sterilised ones, create numerous disamenities to the public, ranging from nuisance to hygiene concerns, even physical threat”.
The experience of caregivers like myself and Ms Dawn Kua when she was with the Cat Welfare Society (CWS), (whose experiences are still available on her blog at www.catwelfare.blogspot.com/) indicate that many complaints arise from irresponsible cat owners who let their pets roam and irresponsible feeders, such as those who lure cats upstairs to feed them.
I have spoken to complainants who said they did not want cats culled.
Problems have been and can be solved without culling, if Town Council (TC) officers are guided on how to approach cat-related feedback.
At the moment, I believe TC officers do not attend formal training on this aspect of their jobs, and hence some resort to culling as a default solution.
I suggest that the AVA, with the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and CWS, organise courses on “cat management” so that these officers can carry out their jobs more effectively.
As for physical threat, it is a fact that cats rarely attack unprovoked.
A father in my estate complained to the TC that his daughter was attacked but fortunately, a senior property officer interviewed residents who bore witness that the cat had not been known to be aggressive.
We cannot take complaints of “physical threat” at face value.
It is often the complainants who provoke cats to attack.
Perhaps the AVA can include “how to approach community cats correctly” in its public education.
As for the call for AVA and TC to work with the caregivers, we are, and the TC as well, waiting for clear guidelines on how caregivers can apply for sterilisation disbursement.
So far, the TC officers I have emailed are in the dark about this disbursement scheme.
