Spay Day is Tomorrow!!!

Li Tin:

After months of preparations, we are finally counting down to Spay Day 2008!

There will be 4 collection points this year:

Bedok North
Boon Lay
Ang Mo Kio
Tampines

And we have received more than 150 requests this year – and we certainly hope to see everyone at the collection points tomorrow!

I have packed my bags and ready to go!

p/s I am Location Head for Boon Lay 🙂

Caregivers United!

Ivan:

I spoke with the caregiver again on this issue (and here is the photo of the banner).  The immediate problem is now solved.  Other responsible feeders in the area were activated and they called the Town Council this morning.  One of the more senior officer has agreed to take down the banner!  Hooray!

The longer term problem is not solved though with the irresponsible feeders.  Hope they clean up their act to prevent further harm to the communtiy cats and other responsible caregivers.

$5000 fine case

Ivan:

Regarding the $5000 fine for feeding cats case, another caregiver sent me a shot of the banner and I got her permission to post it here.

Chinky has given us quite a number of good advice on the comments page of the previous post.  And just to inform all that Li Tin has just came back from her overseas holiday and she has shared that she will work on this case as well.  I will help out as much as I can in my last two months with CWS.

Membership Enquiries

Ivan:

Wiggie, our Part-time Operations Manager asked me to share with all about our new membership enquiry email address.  It is managed by our volunteer, Shelley.  Shelley is in charge of completing the details of the membership cards and mailing them to you.  She is operating alone and sending out hundreds of cards so we hope everyone can be patient as your 2008 membership card reaches you.  If you do have any questions about your membership, you can reach Shelley at membership@catwelfare.org . Thanks!

$5000 fine for feeding cats

Ivan:

Yesterday evening, a caregiver called me to say that a Western Town Council (TC) has put up a banner saying that if anyone is caught feeding cats, he or she will be fined $5000.  Caregiver argued that the fine is extraordinary huge and asked me if it is legitimate.  I understand that there are some by-laws that TCs can come up but I am uncertain about the guidelines they follow in setting up such rules.  Thus, I will check with Dawn is more knowledgeable than me about this question.

The caregiver said this problem started because a group of about 5-6 irresponsible feeders (some known and some unknown) have been dirtying the area for a long time.  The TC and caregiver managed to identify some of these irresponsible feeders and have persuaded them not to dirty the environment (meaning not to leave food directly on the ground) and to clear up after the cats finish eating.  They sought the help of this caregiver who called me too (this caregiver does not stay in the area but goes there to sterilise most of the cats there).  Anyways, the known irresponsible feeders persisted in their irresponsible feeding. 

In the past, TC has tried scaring these irresponsible feeders by culling some of these sterilised cats.  Personally, I cannot understand the logic why TC officer does not act on punishing these known recalcitrant irresponsible feeders (and the unknown feeders if they are even caught red-handed) but take it out on the cats. 

I shared with the active caregiver that she should contact NEA if the irresponsible feeders persist in littering.  I told her she should advice the TC officer to do likewise too rather than culling the cats.  She said she is concerned about doing so because some of these irresponsible feeders are from the lower income group and they would not be able to afford the fine.  She said that the TC officer should be aware of this route of actions but probably did not proceed due to similar concerns. I told the caregiver that this is likely the best solution if these irresponsible feeders refuse to listen.  And probably better than having the innocent cats culled.  What are your thoughts about this issue?

Note of Departure

Due to organizational changes and increase in personal committments, I have decided to step down from the committee.  However, my departure will be a progressive one as I hope to clear all my projects and cases (though there isn’t much of them left to do).  I have also promised the committee that I will help with the recruitment of new committee members if necessary.  Having said that, the latest date of my departure will be 31 Dec 2008. 

I wish you all the best in your endeavours and efforts to help the community cats in Singapore.  I too will not lessen my efforts to help in my personal capacity.

Best regards,

Ivan

National Feral Cat Day

Ivan:

Today, Oct 16 is National Feral Cat Day.  It is well celerated in the USA and here’s the Alley Cat Allies who is spearheading the event.  Let’s make it a special day for our stray, community and pet cats too.

Meeting with Central-South Caregivers

Ivan:

I met with two caregivers yesterday evening to give them some CWS brochures that I had promised one of them earlier.  In the half hour session, they shared about the concerns they have with regard to caring for cats in the area.  Two of the issues highlighted include:

1. Stray Dogs killing Community Cats for the past 7 years. They witnessed many slow deaths of cats who were severely injured.

Advice to them include approaching Action for Singapore Dogs to come sterilise the dogs; find the stray dogs feeder to ask him or her to feed away from the estate (since the dogs all looked plump according to caregivers – so there has to be a person giving them food); speak to NEA if there are any nearby coffeeshops leaving their foodbins uncovered – attracting the dogs; do not leave kibbles for cats to eat as the dogs will be attracted to the food too and come to the estate.

2. Cats drowning when heavy rain sets upon the area.

Advised them to speak to their Town Council to about fixing the drains.  If Town Council is not in charge of the area, they can help channel the complain to other agencies that are in charge.

3. New Town Council Officer.

Shared with them about the importance of maintaining a good relationship with the new TC officer and they agreed to give it a shot.  This will be helpful when there are complains as the TC officer would likely approach the caregivers first than calling in the Pest Controllers directly.

My outreach work for here is done.  I have passed the case over to one of our Central-South zone representatives, Jeannie to follow up with them if necessary.  Ok, that’s all for now.

Ubi Ave 4 Case: Abuse?

Ivan:

I was going through posts on STOMP, and noticed that I missed this one out.  It was reported on 18 Sep 2008.  There is this huge wound across the tummy of the cat and the cat looked like it suffered alot before it died.  Here are the posts (original post and SPCA’s reply).

Update to West Case

Ivan:

Michelle Siau, our TNRM subcommittee member was asked to help out for the recent west case and she is doing a great job.  She managed to speak to the lady, identify the caregiver there, and the caregiver went on to contact the Town Council.  Michelle did some fact-finding too and she found out the complainant was actually a RC member who didn’t want cats near her kids.