"Die-hard" anonymous complainant accorded VIP treatment

Straits Times 25 May 2012 "Cat owners urged to be responsible"

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150809124061065&set=a.10150229629331065.312192.99555921064&type=1&theater

HBPTC launches "Care for Cats" Programme in Holland-Bukit Panjang Town

http://www.catwelfare.org/node/6788

Media Release | May 24, 2012

HOLLAND-BUKIT PANJANG TOWN COUNCIL LAUNCHES “CARE FOR CATS” (CFC) PROGRAMME IN HOLLAND-BUKIT PANJANG TOWN

Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council will embark on a “Care for Cats” Programme in Holland-Bukit Panjang Town. This programme will provide a holistic approach to encourage responsible cat ownership, promote gracious living among residents and set up a welfare management system for the abandoned cats. Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council will be working closely with the Cats Welfare Society (CWS) and relevant agencies to promote the welfare of cats in our town.

In our day to day operations, our Town Council staff often face challenges in handling cat nuisance in the estates. Instead of taking the cats away every time when we receive a complaint, we plan to handle the issue in a more holistic and sustainable way. Firstly, residents may be pleased to know that there are ways and means to resolve cat nuisance while taking into consideration the needs of our residents and welfare of cats. Secondly, more can be done to re-home or adopt abandoned cats and finally, it creates an opportunity for existing pet owners to gain more knowledge on responsible pet ownership. The Town Council and CWS are committed to reach out to cat owners to help them inculcate a considerate sense of neighbourliness and not let their cats pose a nuisance to their neighbours. On the other hand, residents who feedback about cat nuisance will be attended by the Town Council together with CWS volunteer, to see how we can best resolve the issue.

After fruitful discussions with the CWS together with their volunteers, Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council has decided to embark on this CFC programme encompassing three aspects of cat welfare management :

1) Educate and promote responsible pet ownership

In our urban society, more and more residents are keen to adopt or own a pet for companionship. It is also important to nurture our young and as well as our community towards love and care for their pet. As such, there is an increasing need to educate and create positive awareness on responsible pet ownership. Proper guidance on how to care for pet will be shared by volunteers from CWS.

2) Encourage gracious living and strengthen community bond

This programme will inculcate the importance of living with animals in harmony – including our neighbours, cats and pets. In addition, this is a good drive towards harmonious living between neighbours. Overtime, when families or residents communicate positively, it will naturally encourage reciprocal kindness and understanding thus strengthening community bonding.

3) Cat Welfare Management System

One of the better remedy to address abandoned cats issues in our estate is through effective cats re-homing or adoption scheme. The setting-up of a Public Adoption Board by CWS will look into solutions like matching and re-homing of cats. In addition, CWS will also be organizing exhibitions and road-shows to promote adoption and volunteer recruitment.

There will be outreach in Holland-Bukit Panjang Town by the CWS to educate and provide useful tips and information to our residents on responsible cat ownership. The Town Council, together the volunteers of CWS will work with our residents to promote gracious living and cat welfare in our town. Educational materials and advisories have been drawn up for residents to find out how they can help and play a part in this “Care for Cats” programme.

Let us sow the seeds of ‘Care’ and reap the harvest of gracious living in our town. Together we can build a gracious community.

How many cats have been killed by the town councils over complaints of cats urinating in public areas.

Obvious human urine in this lift!

This morning, I witnessed a middle-aged man urinating onto a trash bin at 11.30am!

If there are community cats nearby, they can be blamed for the urine stench. All it takes is one complaint to the town council and the pest controller will be activated to "remove" the cats in the vicinity of the urine stench! The docile cats will be "sitting ducks" for the pest controllers!

A battle for public opinion. Make this 4 months count.

A battle for public opinion. Make this 4 months count.

by Cat Welfare Society on Friday, 12 August 2011 at 23:49

Old habits die hard.

Even when there is a strong national direction by the Ministry of National Development towards a humane approach towards community cats, we see Member of Parliament and Town Councils continue to waver when faced with complaints.

We continue to be a complaint-driven culture because national directions filter slowly to the ground. Some of our constituency leaders continue to believe in a neutral position when it comes to handling complaints and reaching a position that will placate complainants, even when it goes against our conscience to be humane. Even in the face of an active citizenry who have shown good results by their own efforts in solving a national issue.

SARS have been quoted time and time again. One complainant goes so far as to say "Are we waiting for another SARS before we can eradicate all the strays?" He goes on to say how effective the Town Council was then and urge them to be just as effective again.

The actions of our authorities during the SARS period have left many lingering effects on our society

1) The perpetuation of unsubstantiated information about cats and diseases

2) Erosion of public trust by terminating a programme without warning

3) Entrenching values in our society that is counter to our humane conscience

4) The continual undermining of caregivers efforts to manage a national issue with their own time and resources, by removing time and time again sterilised cats without good reason.

In this 4-month review period when government agencies deliberate and decide the fate of our pet dogs, cats and community animals, your voice is a valuable one. What kind of Singapore do you want to live in? One that continues to overeact to complaints and negative information that impacts the lives of so many? Or one that shows grace and conviction to do what is humane?

This is not just about animals. It is also about the people who care for them and the ones who believe in a better Singapore.

Don't just give your suggestions and feedback to the Ministry of National Development http://app.mnd.gov.sg/PetOwnershipAndStrayManagementReview.aspx

Your Member of Parliament and your Town Council Chairman need to hear from you too.

http://app.sgdi.gov.sg/listing.asp?agency_subtype=dept&agency_id=0000004564

http://app.sgdi.gov.sg/listing_others.asp?t_category=TOWN_COUNCIL

For those of you that care about animal welfare, this is our clarion call. Make this 4 months count.

TOWARDS SECURING OUR FUTURE TOGETHER FOR OUR SHARED ENVIRONMENT

[ ] I am an active member of our cat caregiving community who sterilises community cats and manages them responsibly. Give examples where possible.

[ ] I support the work of my cat caregiving community who who sterilises community cats and manages them responsibly. Give examples where possible.

[ ] I care about animal welfare.

[Your suggestions on how to improve animal welfare in your community or in Singapore.]

This is what we humbly seek of our esteemed Member of Parliament:

· Leadership in tackling issues with constructive pre-emption instead of reaction, towards addressing the root cause – irresponsible pet ownership and abandonment – in our estates. We also seek to work with you to reinstate an effective stray cat sterilisation programme, previously in place but abandoned in 2004, .

· Action based on good information by referring to local and overseas studies, best practices and consulting with subject experts.

· Willingness in engaging active members of the community who are committed to responsibly assisting their Town Councils and communities in tackling issues.

· Recognising and encouraging social responsibility in our estates and communities.

· Fairness in dealing with complaints.

· Commitment to cut administrative red tape to enable effective and humane solutions to issues.

We are confident that you are keen to engage the community positively. We appreciate your well-regarded attention and look forward to meeting you and hearing your views on the above.

Can they get along?

http://www.todayonline.com/Sunday/SundaySpecial/EDC110626-0000071/Can-they-get-along#.Tga2824aB2Y.facebook

The humans and cats of Chong Pang haven't always been on the best terms. Now, they will be test subjects in a humane experiment that hopes to resolve the question ...

by Teo Xuanwei

04:47 AM Jun 26, 2011

The first time she saw cat poo at her doorstep one morning five months ago, Mdm Tan C M thought she was just plain unlucky. But, two weeks later, it happened again.

And despite her deploying obscure "remedies" such as mothballs and vinegar outside her house as repellents, the feline rebel struck again two more times in the following three months. The culprit was never caught in the act but the 52-year-old housewife believes one cat among the handful of strays in the neighbourhood was responsible for causing the mess outside her Yishun Avenue 5 flat.

There's also the overpowering stench that wafts into her house, soiled shoes and the flies the poo attracts that she had to put up with, she said in exasperation. And as the Chong Pang estate she lives in becomes the first to commit to a no-culling approach to spayed strays, Mdm Tan is clutched up about when, rather than if, the problem will resurface again.

"You sterilise the cats; they still need to do their business, right?" she said. "If you remove them, you don't have to worry about it anymore."

Cat Welfare Society (CWS) vice-president Veron Lau and other cat lovers Today spoke to, however, believe that it is unlikely a homeless cat was responsible for Mdm Tan's predicament. More possibly, it was the work of a pet cat that was allowed to roam.

Said cat caregiver Joey Goh, 39: "A stray would not know how to go up a high-rise building by itself." Culling cats, therefore, cures the symptoms but not the problem, she adds.

The differing mindsets depicts the perennial divide between the pro- and anti-sterilisation camps in the cat management conundrum that has been reopened in Chong Pang.

Last Saturday, Member of Parliament (MP) for Nee Soon Group Representation Constituency K Shanmugam, who is also Law and Foreign Affairs Minister, announced that his ward will embark on a more humane programme to manage the population of stray cats in the area. This means the grassroots organisations and government bodies will work with animal welfare groups and activists to sterilise cats and care for them in a responsible manner, such as cleaning up food scraps.

At stake, possibly, is which way the Ministry of National Development swings in deciding how to handle cat complaints across the island henceforth.

Minister Khaw Boon Wan, who first revisited this issue in a June 2 blog post, said killing cats is "not the best way to go" and that he has put weight on the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) to "seriously consider reviewing" its culling policy.

He added in the same post: "Where there are enough cat-lovers out there willing to own this problem, we can avoid culling in those estates."



A SECOND CHANCE

For animal lovers, it is clear this is their shot at a return to the Stray Cat Rehabilitation Scheme that was ditched in 2003 at the height of the severe acute respiratory syndrome crisis - after unsubstantiated reports linking house cats and ferrets to the virus.

They believe the trap-neuter-release-manage (TNRM) method will effectively and humanely solve the cat population issue in the long run. A cat feeder in Chong Pang, who declined to be named, put it thus: "It's a chance to prove to detractors that sterilisation works and that there are enough animal lovers in the community who are capable of taking ownership and resolving the various concerns some people may be facing."

Although animal welfare activists have repeatedly argued that culling is but a band-aid fix - they reason that other homeless cats will quickly stream in to stake claim on vacated territories and the same nuisances will resurface - winning over those who have been left hapless by oft-voiced cat-related woes could be a tall order.

This group views cat-culling through clinical lenses, as simply a necessary evil that's their best shot at eradicating their woes for good.

Banker Kevin Lee, 30, who lives in Yishun Avenue 2, is one who has also been scarred by cat issues. Having spent S$1,800 on paint jobs on his car after it was purportedly scratched by homeless cats four times, he is looking at Chong Pang's new policy with trepidation.

"After you sterilise a cat, it doesn't make it not want to sleep on warm bonnets. If (culling) is something that has to be done to prevent the same problems from happening to me and other car owners, then no choice, you still have to do it," he said.

But Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals executive officer Deirdre Moss asked: "Other than some fur and some paw prints on the car, is there photographic evidence of a cat actively scratching a car? It takes quite a lot to be able to scratch a car's paint off. If it's true, there are solutions to be considered, such as devices that repel cats."

Even if one assumes this improbability, cat caregiver Ms Goh said: "It's about being reasonable. You park under a tree and your car gets stained by bird droppings, do you remove the bird? You suck up a lot of other things, why go out of the way to persecute cats?"

But Mr Lee had this counterpoint: "You cull crows too because they are a nuisance but nobody says anything. Do you think culling crows is humane? It's just a matter of how people view a particular animal."



QUICK FIX THAT'S NOT

The truth is some cat-related nuisances, such as the caterwauling racket in the dead of the night or unpleasant living spaces caused by irresponsible feeders who do not clean up food scraps, may persist.

What's needed is some tolerance and a little bit of time to educate people, said Ms Lau from the CWS. She said: "It's those who indiscriminately feed cats but do not clear up, or ignorant owners who allow their pets to roam or breed and then abandon the kittens that is the hurdle."

She noted that 70 per cent of complaints the CWS handles involve house cats or abandoned pets. "We're not saying everyone should be so tolerant and love cats too, but if people learn to be responsible, many of these problems can be managed."

Ms Moss also said: "Most people in general won't be against sterilisation in principle, it's just that they want a quick-fix solution to the issues they face. For them, here today-gone tomorrow is the best way, but it's not."

In fact, it could lead to other problems. For instance, the rat population could go up, as evidenced by the rat extermination drive that had to be launched in estates along Hume Avenue and Taman Jurong after the AVA returned to culling cats in 2003.

For some time now, the CWS has been working informally with the AVA and some town councils on resolving cat management issues through the sterilisation approach; Ms Lau also revealed that the CWS is in talks with other MPs - all favourable signs that more constituencies could follow Chong Pang's lead.

Mr Shanmugam, however, sought to rein in expectations a little. Responding to Today's queries, he said it was "premature to say how the Chong Pang cat management programme will affect the re-implementation of an islandwide sterilisation programme".

What he is hoping to do is simply to "put together a model which others could look at".

Indeed, much of how this test case plays out eventually still hinges on whether the wider community cares enough to do their bit for animal welfare.

When Today visited the bustling town last week, a shop attendant was cooing at and stroking a stray cat. Asked how he felt about cats roaming around, he said: "They are cute what, they come around so I play with it. Anyway I don't have to take care of it."

But does he think non-culling of cats is the way to go? The 30-something, who declined to be named, said wryly: "As long as they don't cause me problems."

Trap, neuter, release - but can it be managed?

by Teo Xuanwei

The trap-neuter-release-manage (TNRM) approach involves bringing a cat caught by professional trappers for sterilisation and returning it to its territory. Then the crucial next step is to foster responsible cat caregiving and ownership by engaging the community.

This multi-pronged approach is favoured by animal welfare activists because it addresses the root of most cat-related complaints.

Sterilised cats, identified by their clipped left ears, feel no need to mate. What this means is an end to cats roaming large tracts of the estate and marking territories with pee, catfights over mates and caterwauling.

Releasing the cats back to their communities stops new strays from moving in to fill the vacuum and keeps the cat population - as well as rat and cockroach numbers - in check, studies in other countries have shown.

The "manage" aspect of the approach though, could be its Achilles heel because it involves sustained education efforts. Littering issues, for instance, would be resolved if cat lovers just bothered to clear up after leaving out food scraps for strays. Then there is pet abandonment by owners who are uneducated, can't afford to sterilise their cats or don't know how to care for them.

A review of the ban on cat ownership in HDB estates would greatly boost efforts to educate owners and nip abandonment in the bud, said Cat Welfare Society vice-president Veron Lau.

"Because (ownership) is outlawed, cat owners will not come forward to ask for advice or help. We are not able to reach out to them." Teo Xuanwei

'We will work hard to make sure it's sustainable'

In the past week, Mr K Shanmugam says, he has gotten "an overwhelming number of emails, posts on my Facebook Wall and letters of support" from animal lovers and "residents who support the spirit of civic engagement that is going into this project".

But there are also some who have expressed reservations over whether efforts to promote responsible cat ownership can be successful. The MP for Nee Soon GRC said, in response to Today's queries: "They are valid concerns, and we will have to work hard to make sure that the programme is sustainable."

On why Chong Pang is serving as the first test case for reviving the sterilisation-not-culling approach, Mr Shanmugam said he was approached by the Cat Welfare Society a few weeks ago through the Animal Concerns Research & Education Society, which he has helped for some years. They agreed on a pilot programme with the support of volunteers.

He revealed that there are those who want to extend the programme to managing stray dogs. "I think this is encouraging. We need to, however, make sure that we can deliver before expanding further."

No culling of stray cats for Chong Pang

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_676769.html

Saved from the AVA "Gallows" by a diligent town council's property officer and testimonies from senior citizens

An irate father called the town council to complain that a cat attacked his child. He was able to identify the cat as this one.
The town council's property officer in charge of this precinct, went to the block to investigate. He spoke to the senior citizens at the senior citizen corner in the void deck where this cat is frequently seen. The seniors testified that this was a very good tempered cat that was not known or seen to be aggressive.
The property officer then spoke to the father, who was, fortunately reasonable and decided not to insist that this cat be "removed" (to be killed at the AVA).

It is not difficult to imagine how a child would tell his or her parents of scratch marks.

Cats, by nature, do not react aggressively unless they have been provoked or they are overcome by protective maternal instincts if there are newborn babies nearby, or if they have been overly stimulated by stroking. Leave the cats alone and they will leave you alone.

"Cat Management"

Accounts by a HDB resident, working full time, and volunteering herself to assist the town council to deal with feedback involving cats:

"The officer told us that there was a complain about residents finding cat faeces at their corridors. They refused to tell us which resident complained and we do understand that this is confidential. F and I made door to door survey in that evening to find out from the residents what was happening. Here's what we found:

The new resident was furious when he kept finding faeces at the doorway. He had no idea which cat was it, and when asked if he had informed the Town Council if he'd wanted to "remove" the cats, he said no, he just wanted his doorway to be clean.

We advised him that some crushed mothballs to be sprinkled at his doorway may do the trick, and he did. We followed up with a visit again the following week and he said there was no more cat poo."

"A complainant made numberous complains to Town Council and the officer was very angry and impatient and had called us to tell us that if we do not solve this case, they will cull the cats. Once again, we had to make door to door surveys to find out who the complainant was. When we found him, he told us he made over 13 complains and ONE of it was about cat feeder messing up the park with cat food. And 12 of the complains were about the cleaner not doing a good job like sweeping the stairways regular enough. He assured us that he DID NOT want the cats to be culled or removed. He just wanted the feeder to clean up after feeding."

"Officer said that a new resident complained the area was dirty and also many cats. We found her and she told us she had just shifted here from a condo and she could not accept that the place was dusty during the upgrading. She could not stand the sight of many stray cats, foreign workers and old uncles smoking at the void decks. We were dumbfolded because this lady compalined about everything and the cats were just a fraction of it."

Why were sterilised cats captured?

A caregiver's anguish expressed in an email to Hong Kah Town Council:

Date: Friday, 25 March, 2011, 3:32 PM

Dear HKTC

I'm a caregiver in Jurong West and it's deeply unsettling to learn from another caregiver, Miss S, that pest controllers are PAID for every cat that is rounded up in the community. These cats are NOT feral animals that nobody takes care of. These community cats are being cared for by caregivers like us who invest money and time in them- to make sure that they are fed so that they don't rummage through rubbish bins to look for food, brought to the vet whenever they're sick or injured and sterilized so they don't populate, cauterwaul and create nuisance for people.

For we are a network of volunteers, we all have day jobs and commitments and we hope you would understand that time is required for us to investigate every complaint case that is passed on to us. Most of the time, complainants would understand the nature of the nuisance created and would be satisfied with the usage of repellant along their corridor and express that THEY DO NOT WANT the cats to be killed. They just want the problem to be solved and not the lives of these innocent cats to be taken away.

I've been a caregiver long enough to witness that it is indeed POINTLESS to remove existing cats from the community as newly abandoned cats will take over the now 'empty' territory. Cats are very territorial animals. They do not tolerate new cats invading their territory and will chase the new ones away. This is one natural way of controlling the population of cats in the community. Cat complaint cases are usually settled with the usage of repellant and scaring tactics to deter cats away from complainants' units. There will always be a few cases of persistent complainants whom just want the cats to be 'gone' because they are fearful of them but seldom do they want the cats to be killed. Most of these complainants have often asked the cats to be 'taken away to a safe place'. After explaining to them that there are no such places for cats to go to, most of them will benignly agree to 'close one eye' on the issue.

When such complaint cases can be settled by mediation and investigation with time, why should Property Officers take the easy way out by deploying pest control team to KILL all these cats, PAY for such services and NOT solve the underlying problem. Yes, this method is fast and easy but it is inhumane, ineffective and unfair for the helpless cats AND caregivers like US.

We, caregivers, do not just invest our time and money on these community cats. We love them and we obviously care for them. To just deploy pest control team and round up all the cats in the community, it is causing us caregivers undue stress and trauma. We volunteer our time and money to care for these cats. We mediate complaint cases to solve citizens' cat issues. But one call from Town Council to pest control team and everything will just go down the drain. Where is the trust? Can we wake up and go to work with a peaceful mind from now on? No. We will always be fretting and worrying for our community cats. Our quality of lives will be affected. Is this fair to us?

R H
Caregiver in Jurong West

Removing neutered cats not the answer

The Electric New Paper :

You TOWN COUNCIL AND ANIMAL ISSUES

Removing neutered cats not the answer

A PROPERTY officer of my town council responded to a resident's complaint that her three-year-old daughter was afraid of the cats in the void deck by activating the pest controller to 'remove' thecats.

24 March 2011

A PROPERTY officer of my town council responded to a resident's complaint that her three-year-old daughter was afraid of the cats in the void deck by activating the pest controller to 'remove' thecats. A cat that was already neutered was caught and then released to residents who volunteer to manage the cats in the neighbourhood. Still, the officer insisted that the number of sterilised cats at the void deck be reduced to appease the complainant. The problem with cat phobia or ailurophobia lies with the person and not the cats. Removing the cats will not resolve the phobia and it will only invite more cats to fill the 'vacuum effect'. And the 'new' cats, being un-neutered, will give rise to more problems for the complainant and the town council. This example clearly indicates the need for formal training of property officers on how to handle animal issues. The town councils should collaborate with the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Cat Welfare Society to start a certification training programme so that feedback about animal issues are effectively managed. FROM READER TAN CHEK WEE

http://tnp.sg/speakup/story/0,4136,274627,00.html?

http://www.catwelfare.org/downloads

When removing cats just makes the problem worse

When removing cats just makes the problem worse
Letter from Tan Chek Wee
11:05 PM Mar 18, 2011
A senior property officer in my town council, responded to a resident's complaint that her 3-year-old daughter was afraid of the cats in the void deck, by activating the pest controller to "remove" the cats.

A cat that was already neutered was caught but the officer was "kind" enough to release the cat back to residents who volunteer to manage the cats in the neighbourhood. However, the officer still insisted that the number of sterilised cats at the void deck to be reduced to appease the complainant.

The problem with cat phobia or ailurophobia lies with the person and not the cats. Removal the cats will not resolve the phobia and will in fact invite more cats to fill the "vacuum effect" (http://www.alleycat.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=488) in which the "new" cats, being un-neutered will give rise to MORE problems for the complainant and the town council.

This example clearly indicates the need for formal training of property officers on how to handle animal issues. The town councils should collaborate with the AVA, the SPCA and the Cat Welfare Soceity to start a certification training so that feedback about animal issues is effectively managed.





















































17th March 2011, mms photos from a resident who retrieved the cat from the conservancy manager's store-room












































































































21st March 2011: This is the cat that was trapped by the estate's conservancy manager as directed by the town council's property manager in response to a resident's complaint that her 3-year-old was afraid of cats in the void deck. This very friendly cat puts her at risk of being easy target of pest controller. Will removal of this cat and others in the vicinity "cull" the child's phobia of cats?
Is the KPI of the town council officer based on how many complaints she or he responds to, rather than whether she or he gives sensible and effective solutions?

Please extend our TOLERANCE to CATS as well

HDB, Town Councils and NEA "cull" the wrong species for being "dirty"!

Please Help To Stop The Endless Killing Of Cats At Hong Kah Constituency

Please Help To Stop The Endless Killing Of Cats At Hong Kah ConstituencyMembers

Back to group

Description

One year ago, a Facebook group was created to get people to write in to stop Hong Kah Town Council from removing cats to AVA to be killed. Many people wrote in to the Mayor, MPs and the General Manager of the Town Council, Ms Christina Goh. Some even wrote to the PM and Mr Mah Bow Tan. As a result, Ms Goh gave in to requests from Hong Kah cat caregivers to have a meeting. Unfortunately, only 5 cat lovers attended - dictated by Ms Goh - not much voice so Ms Goh was not intimidated to spare the lives of all the cats. Only the Nanyang cats were spared.

It has been a year since that meeting and many cats have been murdered!

There's a new call by cat lovers from Hong Kah and other areas of Singapore to complain yet again to the Mayor, the MPs and Ms Goh, and also to demand a meeting with Ms Goh to stop this inhumane policy once and for all, a policy which is totally at odds with our law against cruelty to animals and God's law on the need to be compassionate. And Buddha's teaching on the necessity of being kind to animals.

Please tell Ms Goh to adopt the successful Ang Mo Kio-Yio Chu Kang model which cat lovers and Cat Welfare Society fought for at a big meeting attended by 20 plus cat lovers, Cat Welfare Society, Ang Mo Kio Town Council General Manager, AVA and NEA. The guidelines hammered out at the meeting was a win-win outcome for both cat lovers and Town Council, in the words of the Town Council General Manager. The guidelines:

1) No removal of cats to be killed by AVA

2) Unsterilized cats must be sterilized

3) Any complaints about cats received by Town Council will be forwarded to Cat Welfare Society which will notify respective cat caregiver(s) to investigate and resolve the complaints in 7 days

Ang Mo Kio-Yio Chu Kang is a very big constituency, perhaps the biggest in Singapore. As the guidelines work in Ang Mo Kio, therefore, it can work anywhere. Do tell Ms Goh that.

We believe that many people writing to the various VIPs and coming to support the meeting with Christina will scare her and, therefore, will force her to adopt a humane approach to solving the stray cat population issue, and that is sterilization, and not killing, an approach which SPCA actively champions through its free-sterilization programme.

So, folks, please send out your letters asap and come to the meeting to give us numbers. If you are coming, please let Michelle Siau of the Cat Welfare Society know. She's also a cat caregiver from Hong Kah. Her contact info:

Mobile: 97530259
Email : mm0259@hotmail.com

Once we have enough people for the meeting, we will arrange for the date and time. And all those coming will be notified of it.

Please invite people to join. We need a big, scary group at the meeting.


http://www.hktc.org.sg/

Hong Kah Town Council
Main Office
309 Choa Chu Kang Ave 4
#02-02 Choa Chu Kang Centre
Singapore 680309
Tel 6764 3295
Fax 6764 7208
Email info@hktc.org.sg or hktcyewtee@hktc.org.sg

Bukit Gombak Branch
Blk 524 Bukit Batok St 52
#01-769
Singapore 650524
Tel 6569 0388
Fax 6569 1990
Email hktcbg@hktc.org.sg


Nanyang Branch
Blk 952 Jurong West St 91
#01-725
Singapore 640952
Tel 6791 5755
Fax 6791 7372
Email hktcny@hktc.org.sg



MPs:

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan
Mayor of South West District
Senior Parliamentary Secretary
Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources
MP for Hong Kah GRC (Hong Kah North)
Vice-Chairman of Hong Kah Town Council
Email: mpshkn@singnet.com.sg

Mr Yeo Cheow Tong
MP for Hong Kah GRC (Yew Tee)
Email: ytmps@yewtee.org.sg

Mr Ang Mong Seng
MP for Hong Kah GRC (Bukit Gombak)
Chairman of Hong Kah Town Council
Email: info@hktc.org.sg

Mr Zaqy Mohamad
MP for Hong Kah GRC (Keat Hong)
Vice-Chairman of Hong Kah Town Council
Email: mp@keathong.sg

Mr Gan Kim Yong
Minister for Manpower
MP for Chua Chu Kang
gan_kim_yong@mom.gov.sg

Tampines: RC's raucous karaoke sessions

Support Tampines Cat Caregivers


Straits Times Forum
Online Story
Oct 14, 2010
RC's raucous karaoke sessions

EVERY other month, Tampines Palmsville Residents' Committee at Block 903 will have their karaoke sessions in the void deck or foyer, ostensibly to prepare for the block party the following day.

They will blast the music and sing, disrupting the peace residents need.

I have found that closing the windows and increasing the volume of my television set do not help.

On the day of the event, the noisy preparations for the karaoke sessions begin as early as 10.30am, well before the start of the event at 7pm.

Last Saturday, I called Tampines North Community Club to voice my concern, especially since my daughter is revising for her examinations.

The karaoke session stopped but only for a couple of hours.

Why can't such sessions be held in the air-conditioned karaoke rooms of the RC, so that residents can enjoy their weekends?

Gwendolen Lim (Ms)

Illegal and unhelpful sign put up by Hong Kah Town Council

Such signboard is offensive to residents who volunteer themselves to manage the cats in the neighbourhood with TnRM but who also feed cats responsibly.

Such signboard can result in harrassment of responsible cat feeders.

The sinister-looking black cat in this signboard only serves to increase the prejudice against cats and even encourage psychotic cat abusers into putting their hatred into action.

Please write to the GM of Hong Kah Town Council, Ms Christina Goh, at christinagoh@hktc.org.sg to remove this signboard and put up Responsible Feeding posters from either the CWS or the SPCA.
3-Step Responsible Feeding
Responsible Feeding Brochure (Front)
Responsible Feeding Brochure (Back)

Today Online 18 Nov 05
No strays = social responsibility
Letter from Geraldine Soh Geok Lian

During a visit to the Social Responsibility Carnival organised by the Tampines Town Council on Nov 12, I was taken a back by two posters.
...
There was a gigantic blue check mark on a poster bearing the words "An Estate Where There Is No Strays" (picture), while a "Feeding Stray Cat" poster, which featured a sterilised stray cat eating neatly off a newspaper, was marked with a huge red cross.

Maintaining an estate devoid of cats does not equate with social responsibility. Neither is feeding strays socially irresponsible.

As a country with first-world infrastructure, the Town Council's aim of a stray-less Tampines shows Singapore's backward mentality. The anti-cat stance harks back to medieval Europe's prosecution of cats, which were branded as heretical due to their role in "pagan" worship.

In the same period that the church sponsored the Grand Inquisition, cats were tortured. Europe's cat population shrank to less than 10 per cent of its former numbers.

Ironically, the Black Death brought a brief respite to such persecution in the 14th century. Cats rapidly multiplied and attacked the plentiful food supply: the plague-carrying rats. There is evidence that the plague (that claimed two-thirds of Europe's population) ended partly due to the rise in the number of cats.

Similarly, after the Agri-Veterinary Authority cancelled the Stray Cat Rehabilitation Scheme in 2003 and culled more cats, a rat extermination drive was launched later that year. More taxpayers' money was spent as a result.

Studies have shown the benefits of interaction with animals and how children exposed to pets develop tolerance, compassion and social responsibility. Unfortunately, the carnival instilled negative values in our children: the intolerance of other living beings in our community and the acceptability of a sterile humans-only Singapore.

Lest we forget, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong stated during his walkabout in Kim Keat that it is not illegal to feed stray cats, but it must be done responsibly.

Unless Singaporeans are proud of being a sterile nation, attitudes such as those held by the Tampines Town Council must change.

http://catwelfare.blogspot.com/search?q=cat+feeding+bylaw

Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Bylaws

...The town council wrote back to tell me where I can get the bylaws, but I already got hold of a copy. They said that they actually do not have a problem with them feeding, but want the person to do it responsibly. I have no problem with them and have spoken to the feeder and asked him to change his feeding spot. He agreed that perhaps feeding next to a childcare centre was not the smartest move.

I do not however like the fact that they came up basically to say that stray cat feeding is illegal under the bylaws. I have looked through the bylaws and don't see anything to suggest that at all.

posted by Dawn @ 2:43 PM

http://catwelfare.blogspot.com/2005/08/feeding.html

We notice that when signs go up to say to stop feeding, the converse happens. The responsible feeders stop and the irresponsible ones don't want to get caught, so they become what we call '...ghost feeders' - ie they throw food surreptitiously in corners, from windows, and scuttle off before they're caught.


From: Nanyang Main
Subject: Re: Irresponsible poster at blk 811,Jur west st 81
cc: "PR Main"
Date: Tuesday, 12 October, 2010

Thank you very much for your feedbacks.

We wish to explain the signage was not put up recently. It was put up at the corner of the void deck of Block 811 Jurong West St 81 ten years ago at the request of the residents. We have removed the signage.

Regards,

LAI POH WAH
PROPERTY MANAGER
HONG KAH TOWN COUNCIL ( NANYANG )

Selective hearing? Or just plain arseholes?

Selective hearing? Or just plain arseholes?
by Ruan Tingfang on Wednesday, 15 September 2010 at 23:21

TC has selective hearing? TC says "Resident complain too many cats cos the feeders keep feeding! I give you 1 week and if you don't get rid of the cats, we will send in the pest controllers!". We surveyed the affected blocks and pinned down THE COMPLAINANT. He said: "I complain to TC about how their cleaners always miss out litter (boxes they leave at pavements etc), about why they did not clean off the bird shit on the parapets, about people throwing rubbish everywhere and the cleaners avoid cleaning up! Yes, I mentioned that there are many cat feeders and I see cat food on the ground. But I did not say too many cats! I just don't like to see messy litter everywhere. What do you mean the TC wanna cull the cats cos of my complains? I'm complaining ABOUT the TC, NOT the cats! Are they trying to seek the easy way out or what?"

MP who refused to help residents who lost their cats, trapped by the town council!

Seeking help from MP

Aug 6, '10 3:42 PM for everyone

One of the families who lost their cats, went to see their MP yesterday.

Sms: "She refused to help at all and told us to go to HDB to ask to remove the ban. As long as there are complaints, cats must be removed, no matter house or community. She also did not want to reveal the pest control company."

Was told by the cat owner that the MP made a call to Faith from TC and was told that one black-and-white cat had been caught and released...

According to the cat owner, they were not given any warning or told that their cat caused complaints.

The owner is now on her way to Ubi, to paste up posters of her missing cat... acting on a tip-off.

http://meowies.multiply.com/journal/item/1693/Suspected_Trapping_of_Cats_by_Pest_Control

Tags: town-council, pest-control

Government (ir)rationale for banning cats from 85% of homes