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.
