Feb 2007
Ms. Dawn Kua, Director of Operations, Cat Welfare Society
Q. Tell me more about the Cat Welfare Society.
Cat Welfare Society’s (“CWS”) mission is to save lives through sterilisation. We focus on sterilisation and management of community cats (stray cats) because we believe that keeping the population in check benefits cats, people who like cats and people who don’t.
13,000 cats are killed in Singapore every year. At the same time, the population of cats is not decreasing either. CWS offers an alternative solution to culling cats in our “Trap-Neuter-Return-Manage Programme” (“TNRM”). The cats are trapped, sterilised and then returned and managed in their original environment. Volunteers help with mediation if there are complaints about cats so that the problem is solved and the cats do not need to be killed. Stopping the cycle of over-population starts with sterilisation.
Q. What motivated you to join/found CWS?
I saw an article in the newspaper and my mother signed us both up as volunteers.
Q. What is your role in CWS?
I do just about everything. One misconception is that I work directly with cats — most of my work is with people. I work with caregivers who need help, management committees, town councils. I conduct workshops to train people who want to start up their own TNRM programmes, attend meetings and try and meet with the authorities to work together for more effective policies with regards to cats.
Q. How has your legal education and training contributed to your work with CWS?
I have found my legal education and training very useful in my work with CWS. I’ve never regretted going into law. One thing I’ve noticed is that people are often unaware of the law and the implications of it and they often react in fear to the thought that they might be breaking the law when they are not. They often do not know where to go if they have problems. For example, we have had cases of caregivers being wrongly informed that feeding cats is illegal and they must pay a fee for a license.
It helps also when we are appealing to the authorities to try and change their policies, for example in the case of the HDB by-laws. And, of course, it helps when looking through contracts and the like. Most importantly, I think that a legal education has made me more methodical and better able to analyse situations. A legal education is a good grounding for whatever field you may find yourself going into.
Q. Some people may think that you are “wasting” your legal training by working for a non-profit organization, instead of earning a good income as a lawyer. How would you respond to this?
People find fulfillment in different ways. I don’t make a lot of money but I wake up every morning enjoying my job and finding meaning in what I do.You can find out more about CWS and its work at www.catwelfare.org.
Would you like to contribute your time and legal skills to a good cause? You can start doing Pro Bono work right here, right now! NUS Law Faculty has its very own Pro Bono Group. For more information on the projects that it has done and future volunteer opportunities, please check out its website at http://law.nus.edu.sg/lawclub/npbg/. Alternatively you can keep a look out for emails sent to your NUS email account.
Juris Illuminae Vol. 3 Issue 4 (February 2007)
