Friday, June 3, 2011

MND: Saving Cats











Saving Cats

I love animals and have pets at home (and to walk the talk, I am a vegetarian).

Last week, one elderly resident came to my MPS crying out for her pet cat which she said AVA had caught and might kill it! I told her AVA came under my Ministry and I would intervene.

The next day, AVA checked and said that her cat was not with AVA. They would look out for it and would return it to her, should it be sent to AVA subsequently.

I weigh in on AVA to seriously consider reviewing its culling programme for cats. Stray cats are a source of complaints in HDB estates but killing them is not the best way to go. The right thing is for cat lovers to own the problem, eliminate the nuisance created by irresponsible behaviour, and sterilise the cats to control their population. Where there are enough cat-lovers out there willing to own this problem, we can avoid culling in those estates.

As MOS Tan Chuan-Jin has an interest in this area, I have asked him to help me lead on this subject, working with AVA, the relevant NGOs and interested residents to forge a compassionate and mature approach to this problem.

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