Unpublished letter to TODAY
From: TODAY
Sent: Friday, June 30, 2006 11:53 AM
Subject: RE: TDOAY VOICES CONTRIBUTION - Statues of "Kucinat cats" at Cavenagh Bridge serve as memorial of the ceaseless culling of cats
Thank you for your contribution to our VOICES section, but I'm afraid we aren't able to use your letter.
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Best Regards,
| Recently I brought some overseas friends to the Esplanade. We walked along Cavenagh Bridge and they were thrilled to see the bronze statues of a family of Kucinta cats. I told them these statutes also serve as memorial to the 3-40 cats that are killed day after day for the last few decades. Even though such culling has not reduced the number of cats, the Government has refused to heed the many letters to the press appealing for implementation of sterilization as a humane alternative. Nevertheless, many people like myself have taken on the task of applying this method (also known as Trap-Neuter-Release-Manage) in our own estates. After 2 years, a few residents and I managed to get close to 100% of the cats in our precinct sterilized. This has resulted in some of my neighbours commenting about the "almost like a sudden dip" on the number of cats in the void decks and in the carparks. They also reported that "come to think of it, oh yes there is now less noise" produced by cats fighting and cats mating, as well as the cries of kittens." If we can have the support of Government bodies such as the AVA and the Town Council to support sterilization and embark on an island-wide sterilization program, I am sure this will result in less complaints about cats and a huge saving of public money (such as our conservancy fees to the town councils) that is now spent on engaging pest control companies to round up cats to be killed. Singapore always strive to be "first" in many achievements. Let's strive to be the first country in this region to implement island-wide sterilization program for strays and who knows, many years down the road, neighbouring countries will want to come and learn from us. |
