ST forum 30 April 2008: Rat Problem - Town Council shld be more responsible

Sarah:

There’s a letter to the ST forum today. Basically, the writer is complaining about a rat in her house, and the reactions of the town council. Apparently, they informed her at first that the rat was in her house, and therefore her concern, not theirs. The writer, of course, commented that the rat came from outside her house, which made it town council’s concern. Thankfully, the town council realised that as well, and send pest busters down to deal with it.

What I liked was that a forum commenter pointed out that the situation could be avoided if there were a couple more community cats hanging around the area! Cats don’t actually have to catch rats to keep them away. Rats and lizards can sense when a cat is around, and generally move elsewhere. So when you kill the stray cats in one neighbourhood, you’re actually opening the door to another lot of pests.

Looking back and looking forward

Michelle, President of CWS:

The first three months of 2008 proved to be a challenging time for the Cat Welfare Society because of a number of organisational changes that took place, most significant of which was the resignation of Dawn Kua, our Director of Operations and only full-time staff. As a result of these changes, we were at times unable to respond as promptly and efficiently to requests from our members as we would have liked. We apologise for that, and thank you for bearing with us. We have, however, managed to convene a new committee and expect to get operations running up to speed in the next month.

Our Annual General Meeting was held on March 27th, 2008. During the meeting, we went over the key highlights of 2007. These included:

Spay Day: We conducted our 2nd annual Spay Day event and outdid our efforts in the previous year with a 23% increase in the number of cats sterilised. A total of 160 cats were sterilised, with the participation of 20 vet clinics that kindly offered us subsidised rates, and with the help of tireless volunteers who saw to the logistics of the entire operation.

Promoting TNRM: We continued to give talks and conduct Trap-Neuter-Return-Manage (TNRM) workshops, provide traps on loan, and work with vets to provide subsidised rates for sterilisation of community cats. More importantly, in recognition of caregivers’ efforts and to provide further incentive to sterilise, we raised our sponsorship of sterilisation to $20 per cat and full reimbursement (up to $60) for the 5th cat sterilised.

We’ll be sending out our membership renewals anytime now - in fact, some of you should have gotten them already. Your membership is important to us and lends the Society help and encouragement in its work to provide for the welfare of community cats in Singapore. Your annual subscriptions and donations help pay for the sterilisation and medical treatment of hundreds of cats, and contribute towards the running of education and awareness programmes to promote tolerance and respect for animals. There is much more that still needs to be done for the welfare of the community cats that live among us. We hope that, with this in mind, you will continue to support our efforts with your membership.

So for, 2008 has been a bumpy year for CWS. However, thanks to tireless volunteers who stepped in, we were able to get reinbursements out, to those equally tireless caregivers out there. Here’s wishing everyone - and every cat - a great 2008.

A hundred thousand candles

Sarah:

The thing about cats is that you take them for granted. They drop into your life and then become your life. You get used to them, get used to shaking out the litter tray, get used to tripping over little furry bodies that twist around your ankles just when you’re running for work. You get used to swearing at those irritating fleabags who INSIST on rubbing on your legs and leaving billions of hairs on your lovely new pencil-cut pants.

And then one day they’re not there anymore, and you’re left scrambling to fill a hole.

That’s how some of us felt when Dawn left. You got used to her being around to fulfil anything you weren’t doing.

Right now we’re working to get CWS up and running. It’s not easy. We made the mistake of relying on just one person to take care of all the trouble. One person who would know everything. Now we’re learning to do it ourselves.

I suppose there’s a lesson in all of this. You can’t rely on just one person to solve the problems. You have to do it yourself. You have to have a plan B. It’s like governments – there’s always a Number 2 being trained somewhere.

And there’s a second lesson too – you can’t do it on your own either. Through the last few months, while we worked to adjust, there were hundreds of lovely caregivers and volunteers who looked out for the cats. They kept things going. Each person lit a single candle in the darkness. By itself, it looked small. But the candles weren’t alone, they were surrounded by hundreds of candles. And together, they lit the night, and kept a safe space for the cats.

Now I’m lighting my candle too. I know it won’t be enough if it was just me. But thanks to all the other candles, the future looks a lot brighter for the cats of Singapore.

One at a Time

Li Tin:

The life and death of community cats in Singapore - that could be our primary concern as the members of Cat Welfare Society, more so if we are committee members.

However, that cannot be the case. We look at the bigger picture and try to fill in the gaps by means of education, mediation and many other things, but sometimes we are not able to plug the leaks as efficiently, or as quickly than we’d like it to be.

On a personal basis, I am a small-time, newbie caregiver in my area. Please pardon my poignant tone, but last night I got news of a death in my area. Not of a cat, but of a stray female dog whom I am looking out for. For months and months, she has been barking downstairs in the wee hours of the night to chase away a notorious pack of dogs. I had been working to get her to a shelter before some harm befalls on her tame, docile soul… and then I heard of her being bitten badly in a field just one street away and is presumed dead.

Had been rather worried that her barking might get her in trouble with the authorities eventually, if just one person were to make a complaint, but in the end, it was the dogs that got to her first. As guilty as I am for not acting fast enough, I knew perhaps, I had made a difference by patting her head while she wagged her tail.

I guess what keeps me sane now, is to tell myself, “We Cannot Save Everyone.”

That, by the way, is also the plight of the community cats in Singapore. Apart from complaints, we’ve got abuse, and we’ve got ignorance to combat.

So many times I have seen on forums “Help! I found a stray cat! What should I do with it?”, and then we see a very helpful reply “Don’t worry, Cat Welfare Society will do the job.”

People have to understand that we are not doing this as a job, in no way we are able to attend to every single case simply because we have our names tagged to the Society. If we could have such a wide and omni-present reach, there won’t be any homeless kitties in the streets anymore. We actually really hope so, but reality is something we have to come to terms with.

The truth is, more cats are being born as we speak. As people who care about the population and of course, the welfare of stray and community cats alike, we are constantly battling against the numbers. We sterilise some, while litters are being born elsewhere. We’d hate to be running around in circles, but we just have to keep going.

One of the kitties got run over by a car, we’d acknowledge that, mourn a little, and we move on to manage another one. There is no room for just so many of them. As pragmatic as I may sound, being part of the committee is important to spread the word about the causality of everything that could involve our community cats.

Even if just one stranger heard our message, understand the cause, and goes away as an informed friend, we have succeeded. We hope to change opinions, garner more support, rope in more like-minded people to push the cause forward, one step at a time.

But for now, let me gain the kitten’s trust first, before we snip her and prepare her for a life of hardship out in the streets of fast-moving Singapore.

The reason I pat stray cats

Aliah:

There are many reasons why I stop and pat a stray cat when I’m walking down the street. One, I love animals. Two, like humans, cats need a sign of affection, a mere reassurance, to let them know that
everything is all right.

Living on the streets can be dangerous at times. Especially with animal abusers lurking around, finding their next prey. What about those who simply can’t stand the idea of having our four-legged friends living in the same neighbourhood with them? Where would they go unwanted?

So, who would speak up for the cats?

They can’t possible defend themselves.

I think the reason why we’re doing this is that, deep down inside, we feel that we’re able to help the cats one way or another. Sure, you can’t save the world. At least, you try.

meow, Aliah

Our almost-first meeting as a new committee!

Ivan:

We had a good 3 hours meeting a kosher coffee cafe that our Vice President recommended. We managed to reach several objectives even though the meeting time was limited. Some issues covered were plans to redesign our website, start sending out newsletters again, standard operating procedures for communications and formation of sub-committees lead by one or two committee members.

In reaction to the above, we are actively looking for committed individuals who can join us as sub-comm members and/or people who wish to contribute articles to our upcoming newsletter. Finally, before I sign off - All the best to the committee members who are having their exams these two weeks!

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