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Ivan:

CWS has received email from a muslim caregiver about the stand that MUIS has given on the above issue.  She is not agreeable to statements that are publised on the MUIS website about it.  She mentioned that some of the statements advocated irresponsible pet keeping and hoped that MUIS works more closely with SPCA and AVA to improve responsibility toward pet cats, including keeping them indoors and keeping them for live.  Another non-muslim caregiver has also texted me about this and he has written to the press as well.

Due to the religious/racial sensitivity of the issue, we have asked Salina, our sole muslim committee member to respond to it since she is familiar with the muslim teachings.  Our media representative, LiTin is looking into the matter too. 

CWS urges all to share with their religous leaders, friends and family about the benefits of TNR and other responsible pet cat keeping issues.

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!)

Ivan:

I tried using this to deter community cats on top of moth balls and it proved to be useful.  Xiang Mao if I translate it correctly should be lemon grass.  You can buy this oil at medical halls or selected organic produce shops.  It sets you aback by $11.9.

Here’s a photo of it and I cropped out the Chinese name also for a clearer view.

[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!

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.

Ivan:

Thanks to the hardwork of Webgal (our Adoptions Bulletin Volunteer), we are able to put up some cats (belonging to fosters) for adoptions on the above paper, after a hiatus.

Many thanks too to Dell who has given advice on how to go about reviving this mode of advertising that we use to be part of, and Michelle for connecting with the journalist in charge of this third page of Sunday Classifieds.

Mumcat25 Salina:

Received an email from a catlover, Ms Y, an article  from Berita Harian Malay Paper on Mr Mah Bow Tan (Minister, MND) reply to Mr Siew Kum Hong (NMP) during Parliament on Cat Cafes. Did a simple translation which I hope you all can understand. (sorry if not good enough).

English Version  

Date: 26 August 2008
Article from Berita Harian during Parliament

 
HDB WILL NOT BUILD “CAT CAFES”
 
Housing & Development Board (HDB) will not build “cat cafes” or feeding areas for community cats where caregivers / feeders can feed them.

Explaining why in his written reply, Minister Mr Mah Bow Tan, Ministry of National Development (MND),  mentioned that this is to make sure cleanliness and health matters is taken care of at the all HDB estates
In answering question from Mr Siew Kum Hong (Nominated Member Parliament), Mr Mah said that even though there are cat lovers around, there are also people who are more sensitive prone to problems arises from stray cats.
According to Mr Mah, every year HDB received approximately 530 complains on cats from the residents

P/S: By the way, Mr Siew Kum Hong (Nominated Member Parliament) is Director, Keystone Law Corporation. You can see his profile in the website.

I have also included the malay version of the Original BT News

Malay Version

Tarikh: Selasa, 26 Ogos 2008
Sumber: akhbar Berita Harian

Ruangan: Ringkas Parlimen

HDB tidak akan bina “kafe kucing”
LEMBAGA Perumahan dan Pembangunan (HDB) tidak akan membina ‘kafe-kafe kucing’ atau tempat khusus di mana kucing dapat diberi makan oleh orang ramai.
Menerangkan demikian dalam satu jawapan bertulis, Menteri Pembangunan Negara, Encik Mah Bow Tan, berkata ini adalah untuk memastikan kebersihan dan kesihatan terjaga di estet-estet HDB.
Dalam menjawab soalan yang diajukan Encik Siew Kum Hong (Anggota Parlimen Dilantik), Encik Mah berkata walaupun adanya pecinta kucing, terdapat juga mereka yang lebih sensitif kepada masalah yang ditimbulkan kucing-kucing liar.
Menurut beliau, setiap tahun HDB menerima sekitar 530 aduan mengenai kucing daripada para penduduk.

Link di Cyberita Online – http://cyberita.asia1.com.sg/singapura/story/0,3617,125513,00.html

Ivan:

It is CWS’s pleasure to announce to everyone that we are giving out five Dedicated Caregiver Awards.  The receipients of these awards were nominated by other caregivers and CWS.  The award winners are from various parts of Singapore.

These five individuals were selected because of their hard work sterilising community cats over many years and their constant efforts working with their respective Town Councils in managing the community cats.

The award winners are (not in order of preference):

1. Mrs Neo aka Tay Bee Leng of Upper Changi

2. Foo Wei Fong of Bedok North

3. Mdm Soon of Boon Lay

4. Helga Gamp of Yishun

5. Susan Lee Kum Lan of Teban/Pandan Gardens

Receipients who can make it to the Tea session this Saturday (2nd Aug) will be receiving their awards from our President, Dr. Michelle Lee.  Those who cannot attend will have the awards dispatched to them. 

Let’s all congratulate the above caregivers for their awards and their hardwork helping fellow caregivers and community cats.

Finally, I just like to highlight that there were other caregivers who were shortlisted but they prefer to give up their nominated status so as to give opportunities for similarly deserving caregivers to be nominated for the awards.  These nominees were Dr. Tan Chek Wee (Bedok), Goh Boon Choo (Woodlands), Corinne and Florence (Pasir Ris), and Rebecca (Tampines).

Ivan:

With the completion of hectic July doing outreach projects, I am shifting to a slower 2nd gear with CWS’s taks for August as I am involved in the judging of the Animal Protectors Grant which requires several meetings in the month of August.  Moreover, school starts for me so I need to hit the books and do my research.

CWS just got an email asking us to speak to some Chinese Animal Welfare Delegates.  We were asked to speak to them about the larger and finer issues with regard to caring and controlling the population of community cats in Singapore (so that they can bring the understanding back to China and apply them). 

LiTin and I are the assigned Mandarin liasions for CWS and we are discussing if we should take up this project up as it happens in August when I am busy with the grant judging and LiTin with merchandise/website projects.  Having said that, it is likely that we take it up as the plight of the community cats in China is really very sad, especially with the street strays cleanup before the Olympics (cats were caught and left to die) and cats/dogs eating in Canton.  The sharing of knowledge about implementing and managing TNR programmes in Singapore will help our Chinese partners with their plans to more effectively reduce the population of stray cats in China.  This in turn will minimise the harm done that could possibly be done in the future when there are other street clean-up exercises and killings for cat meat (since there will be less cats on the streets due to effective TNRM programmes). 

An elderly caregiver I met when I was in the Eastern part of Singapore just called me as I blogged this entry.  He was asking about his membership status as he has not got a reply from us.  CWS does not issue receipts but we give out membership cards to applicants for CWS membership.  The cards are being made ready and will be sent out in August.