MY PAPER MONDAY JUNE 22, 2009
MY SAY
Singaporeans should follow Moroccan cat lovers’ example
OVER the past few months, there have been countless reports of cat abuse.
It is sad that cats are mostly the ones which are suffering, compared to other animals such as rabbits, hamsters or dogs.
Some even claim in the press that they are performing a good deed by ending the lives of these harmless animals.
Are Singaporeans out of their minds?
While people all over the world are fighting for animal conservation and saving creatures such as pandas, kangaroos and whales, we are torturing the only animals that we have – cats and dogs.
I was in Morocco last month and observed a group of tourists trying to feed the cats in an alley at the Djemaa el Fna marketplace.
The locals stopped them and asked the tourists what food they were planning to feed the stray cats.
I could not believe that the locals actually checked and verified that the food was safe before allowing the tourists to feed the strays.
I wish that my fellow Singaporeans could be just like them.
I wish that Singaporeans would care.
We do not need to feed the cats, pamper them or taste their food before we feed them.
All I am asking is that we not abuse them.
After all, it is not as if they have done us any harm.
The cats and dogs in our streets are the only animals we have running free in our country.
Let us try to show them some love.
Ms Siti Raudhah Ishak
