The Electric New Paper :
STRAY CATS
What do town councils know of animal welfare?
02 June 2009
I REFER to the letter, 'Owners must also do their part' (The New Paper, 26 May) by Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority's (AVA) Mr Goh Shih Yong.
AVA mentioned in its response to DrTan Chek Wee that the AVA would subsidise the cost of the sterilisation of stray cats if the caregivers of stray cats, town councils and the community in the respective precincts agree to participate in the programme.
Firstly, I'd like to thank AVA for being supportive of the Stray Cat Sterilisation Programme and its acknowledgement that sterilisation is an effective way of controlling the stray population.
Sterilisation programme
However, it concerns me that the fate of the programme for the welfare of animals is now handed over to town councils, who do not have the same priorities or understanding about animal welfare.
The number of cat nuisance complaints is often cited as a reason to put animal welfare policy changes on hold.
But up to now, there has not been a satisfactory answer from AVA or town councils to questions like how these complaints are investigated and found genuine, nor how many of these complaints are from repeat callers.
Yet stray animals are killed daily on the basis of these complaints. This sends the kind of message to the public that runs counter to AVA's mission to promote animal welfare.
Instead, the AVA can look into supporting the education, awareness and research efforts of organisations like SPCA and the Cat Welfare Society as a means to address the very issues behind common complaints.
Instead of working only to resolve complaints, actively working to pre-empt and reduce them ultimately benefits the public, AVA and town councils.
I applaud AVA for participating in the Singapore Animal Welfare Symposium held on 16 May, where it engaged with students and others in an open, honest debate.
It must then recognise that these students, many youth leaders with the passion for animal welfare, may eventually become our next generation of veterinarians and advocates.
If AVA hopes to attract these future talents to its causes, what it must do is to give them confidence that it is capable of change and that its role on national and cross-agency issues is an active instead of a passive one.
FROM READER LAU VUN PING
