MY SAY
Educate irresponsible feeders to curb strays
I WRITE in response to the letter, “Culling avoided unless cats are a nuisance”, by Ms PngChiew Hoon of Marine Parade Town Council (my paper, Aug 20) .
I agree that some people behave irresponsibly when they feed our community cats. They do not clean up the leftovers, or lead cats upstairs into HDB blocks to feed them.
However, the majority of feeders do not behave this way as they have been well-educated by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Cat Welfare Society.
I am glad that Ms Png states that “public education remains an important part of (the town council’s) strategy for controlling the number of strays within the community”.
This would be a more costeffective solution in the long run as it addresses the root of the problem.
However, I am disturbed to learn that Ms Png had received complaints from residents who have a “phobia of cats”, also known as ailurophobia. This a treatable condition, and people who suffer from it should seek medical help.
By responding to the irrational fears of a few residents, the town council would nullify the efforts of residents who are taking care of strays using their own resources.
Ms Melissa Lim May Lin
Below is the original letter (permission granted for posting)
Sent: Thursday, August 20, 2009 12:36 PM
Subject: Reference: Marine Parade Town Council’s Reply to Letter on Culling of Sterilised Cats
I refer to your letter on behalf of Marine Parade Town Council, dated 20 August 2009 and published in My Paper.
Irresponsible Feed and the Ineffectiveness of Culling Measures
I would agree that some – not all – feeders are irresponsible when they feed our community cats, in that they do not clean up leftovers, or lead cats upstairs to higher levels in HDB blocks for feeding purposes.
Nevertheless, many of the feeders in our community have been well educated by the SPCA and Cat Welfare Society’s endeavours to promote Responsible Cat Feeding. In order to eradicate the problem caused by food left behind by some feeders, it is imperative that we collectively work together to educate any such irresponsible feeders. By that, I mean that the Town Council needs to work alongside the Cat Welfare Society, SPCA and responsible cat caregivers to reach out to these other feeders. I would strongly suggest that the Town Council look into dialogue with all parties as soon as possible.
The reason why I urge for such communications is simple: leaving the issue of whether culling is inhumane or otherwise aside, culling has been proven time and time again to be a cost-ineffective measure. Culling does not change the fact that irresponsible feeding will still persist, and when the latter continues, more culling will be done because a vacuum would have been created within the current cat community (with most cats already sterilised by caregivers using our own funds). Thus, other cats – and worse, pests – will enter the precinct to feed on the leftover food by irresponsible feeders.
The Importance of Public Education In Collaboration With All Parties
Collective funds of the residents should be better utilised: education rather than stop-gap measures such as culling will work to maintain a long-term solution for everyone in the community. Furthermore, it should be pointed out that constant and active dialogue as well as education measures will cost much less than repeated culling. Given that there is already a current review of town councils’ expenditure, I am sure you would agree that careful and prudent use of funds for long-term solutions would be more advisable than recurrent expenditure which not only do not solve the issue at hand, but instead exacerbate it.
I am heartened to note that in your letter, you stated that “[p]ublic education remains an important part of our strategy for controlling the number of strays within the community.” May I enquire what these measures as part of your strategy in public education are please?
I would strongly suggest as well to strengthen your efforts by working with SPCA and Cat Welfare Society, to ensure the best and widest outreach for your strategies. Kindly let us all know what your public education efforts are, so that we can work collectively on this.
The Irrational Fear of Cats
In your letter, you further mentioned that the Town Council had received complaints from residents who have a “phobia of cats”. The term in psychology and medicine used for this is ailurophobia. More information can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ailurophobia
http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=12227
“Ailurophobia is a type of specific phobia. It is a persistent, irrational fear of cats.”
“An abnormal and persistent fear of cats which produces an undue anxiety reaction even though sufferers realize their fear is irrational.”
Firstly, I would like to point out that ailurophobia is a treatable condition. It would be wise for the complainants to seek immediate medical and psychological treatment for their disorder. Should you require information about possible doctors and therapists for your complainants to seek assistance and consultation, do let me know and I could ask my friends within the medical community for help.
Secondly, I find it rather disturbing that the Town Council has acted on such irrational fears of individual residents by culling cats, thereby not taking into account the efforts, care and concern shown by other residents who take care of these cats with our own resources and funds. Would the Town Council take similar measures for other irrational fears of residents then? What then of residents who may have irrational fears of children, elevators in lifts, dark places, etc.? The list, obviously, could go on.
Again, may I reiterate that it is important not to resort to a stop-gap temporary solution to the matter at hand. The complainants do have a problem, and I acknowledge that. The solution to their problem is to seek treatment for their phobias, rather than to adopt a piecemeal approach by temporarily eradicating cats in their area. The cats will return because there is a vacuum created, and because there still is food leftover by irresponsible feeders who need to be educated – and the complainants will still have their phobias unresolved. This is going to result in a cycle of culling – and most importantly, wasteful expenditure.
As I understand, some other Town Councils in Singapore have adopted measures to aid with the rehabilitation and sterilisation of community cats, alongside efforts to educate caregivers and residents on responsible feed and general upkeep of the precinct. This should be something of interest to Marine Parade Town Council. I believe this sort of islandwide coordination would also be in line with the Housing Development Board’s Town Council Coordination section, which is part of the Properties and Land Department.
I hope that the Town Council can address my concerns as stated above. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours faithfully,
Melissa Lim
