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This is taken from a letter published on Today, Feb 2 issue from long-time TNRM advocate Dr Tan Chek Wee.

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Li Tin:

Looks like our official website at www.catwelfare.org is back online! 🙂

On the side, let’s take a look at this fantastic TNRM video (as forwarded to me by a friend) made by a YouTube celebrity who has a series of cat-related videos. I personally love his way of presentation and the production quality. Who knows? We might be able to get him to help us do up a video that goes more in depth on the benefits of sterilisation of Feral/Stray/Community Cats. 😀

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwc1QiWKIi8&hl=en&fs=1]

Li Tin:
Kailing and I went to Expo earlier in the night to set up the booth for tomorrow’s (at the time of this post… it’s this morning actually) Responsible Pet Ownership Roadshow 2008.

Past years’ events were usually held at Orchard Road for 2 days, but this time round AVA had decided to extend the roadshow to 3 days and have it in a cool indoor area where activities can be better contained… and the best thing is – THERE IS AIR-CONDITIONING!

Sorry, I personally don’t fare too well in the humid heat of our sunny Singapore, but I digress.

Here are some of the event details.

Date: 7-9 November 2008 (Friday to Sunday)
Time: 11am – 9pm (will most probably close shop earlier on the last day)
Venue: Singapore Expo Hall 6B (the one nearest to the Expo MRT station!)

We will be having merchandise sales… and a special lelong of our Christmas Cards at $2 for a pack of 8!

Do pop by and say hi to our volunteers! =)

(Psst Kailing, please put pictures up together with this post ok? Thanks!)

[caption id="attachment_905" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Cats going home soon!"][/caption]

Kai Ling:

Here are the cats in their carriers waiting to be loaded into the van. Adding on to my previous post, we would like to also thank the vets for being part of Spay Day. It was a pity though, that some care-givers who signed up did not turn up with the cats, and hence, there were were extra slots not filled-up . Do thank your vets when you see them, for offering CWS subsidized rates for sterilisation on Spay Day. The participating vet clinics are: 

1. Allpets & Aqualife Pte Ltd
2. AMK Veterinary Surgery
3. AAVC – Animal & Avian Veterinary Clinic
4. Animal Practice Pte Ltd
5. Animal Recovery Centre Pte Ltd
6. Animal Recovery Centre (East)
7. Animal Recovery Veterinary Centre
8. Clinic for Pets
9. James Tan veterinary Centre Pte Ltd
10. Mount Pleasant Animal Hospital 
11. Mount Pleasant Animal Clinic (Springside) Pte Ltd
12. Mount Pleasant Animal Clinic (East) Pte Ltd
13. Mount Pleasant Animal Clinic (North) Pte Ltd
14. Mount Pleasant Animal Clinic (Bedok)
15. Mount Pleasant Animal Clinic (West) Pte Ltd
16. Namly Animal Clinic
17. Pet Clinic
18. The Animal Doctors
19. The Joyous Vet Pte Ltd
20. The Veterinary Clinic (Harbour Front Walk)
21. The Veterinary Clinic (Holland VIllage)
22. Vet Practice Pte Ltd 

Thank you all for your kind support!

[caption id="attachment_900" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Matching Cats to Vets"][/caption]

Kai Ling:

Spay Day 2008 concluded on Friday, 31 October 2008. A total of 157 cats were sent to the various vets for sterilisation – and it was certainly heartening to see so many enthusiastic care-givers bringing the cats in. In the AMK drop-off point where Wiggie was, one care-giver wrapped newspapers around the carrier so that the cat would be less scared enroute to the vet; thought that was really considerate and a pretty innovative idea!

It was also great to have met so many volunteers, whom took much initiative in loading and unloading the cats from the vans. They readily approached the care-givers to fill up the carrier forms and tag the cats very efficiently. Thank you all for taking time off your busy schedules.

I would also like to thank our most wonderful organizing committee – Wiggie, Meng Tuan, Betty, Li Tin, Rebecca, Jeannie, Michelle, Herbin and Sharon.  They were the ones working hard behind the scenes to ensure that Spay Day goes on smoothly – from getting vet slots, to charting transport routes, getting logistics and forms done and translated, to getting volunteers and tabulating lists. Special mention goes to Salina and Ivan for helping out by recruiting volunteers and for being always around. Also to Derrick and Emmanuella for designing the cool gift tags for the goodie bags and calling up the care-givers to remind them about Spay Day. Our transport people were also crucial to getting the cats to the venues on time.    

In short, there are so many people we would like to thank who made Spay Day 2008 possible. For those not mentioned too, you know we have you in our hearts!

Kailing:Yesterday saw the first ever Animal Welfare Symposium in Singapore. It was great to meet so many people concerned about animals. Besides animal welfare groups, it was heartening to see many schools, JCs and universities getting involved in the symposium!

Sarah:

Wanbao had a report on the Class95 DJ incident. It came out on the 19th, Vesak Day. I can’t get a scan of it, so this will have to do. My Mandarin isn’t very strong, but essentially it’s a round-up of opinions about the issue of cat feeding.

Sarah:
One of the cat feeders was approached earlier today by some unhappy neighbours. Apparently, a woman told her that the cats were scaring her, and wanted to make a complaint to both the police and town council.

The feeder acted sensibly, and explained to the woman about responsible feeding. The woman wasn’t happy though, and called her husband down to scold the feeder. In the end, the commotion grew, people started gathering, and the feeder had to call the police to help calm the situation down.

Ivan:
Just got word today from an ex-committee member who said that her mum heard the Class 95FM’s Morning show. DJs, Glenn Ong and Flying Dutchman were talking about stray cats again. This time, they compared feeding of stray cats to the feeding of monkeys. They added that cat feeders should be fined heavily as their monkey feeders counterparts. The DJs also said they have seen people feeding many cats and stray cats mess up the rubbish bin and leave their poo around. They were inviting listeners to send in sms or call in till 10am today (7 May). CWS is drafting a letter to the local press to address this issue.

Note from website editors: This is not the first time Class 95 has expressed themselves in this fashion. There was the 2003 incident, where the same DJs suggested that cats should be drowned en masse, or sent to Peru to be eaten. In 2007, the same DJs spread inaccurate information about community cats, undermining the goals of animal welfare activitists.

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.