Who is the sinner?

In Singapore, the majority of us lived in HDB flats. There is a reasonable number of Singaporeans who loved animals and yet the HDB only allows a certain breed of dogs to be kept as pets, but no cats. Unfortunately, owing largely in part to this ruling, a large number of cats were abandoned and ended up as strays.

Quote :
Where can we go?

HDB says No
We stay on the streets
Town Council says No
The feeders mess up public areas
We move to the carparks
Car owners say No
The scratches must be that "stupid cat sleeping on the roof"
We move to the hawker centres
NEA says No
Or else no 'Singapore OK' label
We hang around the walkway
The young lady says we scare her mother
We move near the childcare
The parents complaint to the Town Council's officer
"Get rid of the cat or we beat your brain out!"
We poo on the grass
The Town Council's Senior Property Manager screams
"Cats cannot poo! Not even on the grass!"
Where can we go?
Can we ask to be unborn?
We are labelled pest and nuisance
Without justification
Look who is destroying the earth?
At an unprecedented pace
Come on
We only want to live
Just like you do
What right have you got to push us off the brink?

TODAY Weekend
26th July 2008
Unquote

When I was young and staying in the countryside, I don't ever recall having strays around. Sadly, as our country progressed, land of our forefathers were acquired by the government and our countryside disappeared. As we had no natural resources, we, the people become our country's resource. To accommodate the growing population, we were put into units stacked on top of one another. Unfortunately, most of our pets, especially the cats, which had co-existed with us since time immemorial, suddenly found that our government had no provision for them in our stacked-up homes.

There are people of Singapore today, who have suddenly acquired an attitude of intolerance, making mountains out of molehills and complaining over every minor thing, to the extent of sacrificing their morals for their materialistic attachments, like wanting cats to be removed and killed because they claimed that cats leave paw prints or scratches on their cars.

Quote :
"When there is attachment toward materialism, detachment toward consciousness is created of its own accord. When attachment toward consciousness exists, detachment toward materialism becomes natural."

There are those who used fear of cats, ailurophobia, to have the cats removed from their neighbourhood. Complainants used cat defecation, noise from caterwauling, etc, as grounds for removal of the cats. The town councils, who, without a moment's hesitation, in turn called in the pest control to trap the cats, which were then sent to AVA for culling.

Ailurophobia cannot be overcome simply by removing cats from the phobic person's surroundings because there will always be cats anywhere and the phobic person cannot hope to avoid seeing cats for the rest of his life. For his own benefit and in the interest of everyone concerned, cats included, the phobic person should seek professional help for his phobia.

As for dirtying and noise, I have seen motorcycle owners cleaning and revving their motorcycle engines in the void decks, knowing full well that it is against the rules. The oil spills left permanent stains on the floor. These people usually get away with their act and if they are ever caught, at most they pay is a fine. So, why do cats have to pay with their lives doing something which comes naturally to them and not out of any evil intent?

Cats defecate on the corridors of the upper floors of HDB blocks because of the irresponsible or ignorant acts of humans, who feed all over the place. Naturally, the cats would defecate nearby instead of on the earth at ground levels. Cats are territorial and fight or caterwaul when not sterilized.

An ignorant or irresponsible cat or animal lover :
- feels sorry for cat and feeds on impulse, does not think of the mess left behind or that the cat may defecate nearby

Neighbour complained to town council of mess, and cat is trapped and sent to AVA where it would be killed.

A responsible cat caregiver (from professionals to illiterate old folks who put in time, effort and money):
- feeds cats and clears the leftovers
- either traps or engages a cat trapper to trap unsterilized cats for neutering to control the cat population
- returns the sterilized cats to the neighbourhood, or
- if they are newcomers and get bullied by existing cats, puts them in a cattery, where they somestimes get adopted
- sends sick cats under their care to the vets for treatment
- from their pockets, pays for food, cat trapper fees, vet fees, cattery fees, etc
- fights for the release of cats caught by appealing to town councils and AVA
- supports the control of cat population humanely by way of the trap, neuter, release and manage (TNRM) program

And yet unfortunately, very often the authorities failed to appreciate their kind and compassionate acts, and called in the pest control whenever a complaint against cats was received. Despite letters of appeals, reasonings and protests, sometimes the authorities remained unmoved and persisted unfeelingly and unrelentingly in their callous acts against another sentient being, thereby causing an unnecessary waste of town council funds and undermining the efforts of the caregivers.

Caregivers go through a lot of hassle to obtain release of the cats from AVA. Sometimes, the cats were not released and would be killed instead. Thus, either the caregivers are out of pocket or emotionally spent.

When everyone pays their dues (services and conservancy charges) to the town council, why does the town council not accord equal and fair treatment to all in return?
Why do the officers pander to the mere whinnings of a complainant, and yet remained so unapproachable to appellants?
Why have humans become so selfish that they cannot share the world with other sentient beings, that they forgot that the word "human" forms part of the word "humane"?
Why does HDB stick so hard to its "no cats rule" even when it had been pointed out that all their conditions hold no water?
Why does the authorities not educate the general public on cats and cats management and welfare when they have been provided with and have access to all relevant materials?

So, who is the sinner?
The one who complained to the town council?
The town council who called the pest control?
The pest control who trapped and send the cat to the AVA?
The AVA who killed the cat?
Or HDB, because of its "no cats rule" that inadvertently created the vicious cycle of complaining, trapping and killing?

The cruel acts do not apply to cats alone. Monkeys are trapped and killed at AVA too. Pigeons fed bread laced with poison are killed enmasse, when it was the humans who should be told not to throw food out of their units to entice the pigeons.

As I was typing this, another blogger posted the following article. I cannot comprehend why a human must subject another fellow human to emotional torture by forcing them to make such a painful decision.

Quote :
Two old aunties rushed down to AVA after they found out that their cats were caught. A mother and her baby.

The officer brought the cats out but said he could only release one. The aunties had to choose.

The cats jumped for joy at seeing these familiar loving faces, not understanding the anguish and the tears.

They chose the mother. Because they had seen her as a baby, as a young playful adult and then an unwitting, unsavvy young mother. Then they witnessed the baby frantic, hysterical in the cage as she was carried back into the unspeakable backrooms.

How does anyone make such a decision? How do you expect them to recover from it? This happened some time ago but the aunties will never ever forget this.


Perhaps one day the CEO of AVA will stumble on this and hopefully it will move whatever compassion there still is, and steer AVA towards truly improving the welfare of the animals, instead of being famous for its never ending death rows!