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Asiahomes Internet
23 Aug 2003

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030630Singapore pet health and welfare, educational for animal lovers, from Asiahomes Internet Tips for Pet Lovers, sponsored by AsiaHomes Internet. August 23, 2003

The Singapore stray cats' days are numbered?

By mid July 2003, the government tender for 5 plots of land to build stray cat and dog boarding kennels will close. It is estimated that up to $300,000 will be required to pay for the architect's fees, to level the ground, provide the infrastructure, especially the sewerage system and build the basic kennels.

Successful bidders will not be permitted to breed dogs or cats and some dog breeders may have wasted their $70.00 tender form fees. All boarders must be micro-chipped and neutered. The kennels will not be permitted to be licensed sanctuaries for stray cats and dogs. From my interpretation, the kennels are boarding kennels for neutered animals.

The next few months will be critical for the future of the stray cats. The government authorities are actively culling them from the food courts and hawker centres.

The commencement of culling of the stray cats appeared to coincide with the outbreak of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and had caused an angry public response from pet lovers in Singapore.

Around the same time, a scientist in Hongkong claimed that the SARS virus originated from the civet cat. People who do not know that the civet cat is not a cat, get frightened of being infected. Domestic cats are not known to carry the SARS virus. Similarly, a recent U.S report said that prairie dogs transmit monkey pox to people and this cause alarm to dog lovers.

There was an arrangement with the government authorities that stray cats, if neutered and cared for by volunteers, would be permitted to live in the neighbourhood. Now, this arrangement was no more as the authorities stated that the cats were a nuisance at food centres. The announcement came in late May 2003 as part of the "Singapore OK" campaign. This campaign was to endorse places to be "free from SARS" as they had implemented control measures.

Suddenly, many cat lovers and volunteers had to find homes for the stray cats that were neutered and identified by a clipped left ear and had been permitted to be looked after at the food areas.

One commercial boarding kennel at Pasir Ris charges $150 per cat per month to be housed in communal boarding. The President of the Animal Lovers League, Cathy Strong sid in the June 8, 2002 Sunday Times that $300,000 would be needed to build a cattery for up to 3,000 cats and $3,000 would be needed for monthly upkeep.

As many volunteers who feed such cats have low income, they can't afford to house more than one stray cat. One "otak (barbecue fish)" seller had ten cats and the bill would be $1,500 per month. She would not be able to pay boarding for a long time.

What was the solution? The Animal Lovers League was said to want to house the strays in Johor, Malaysia but this was opposed by the authorities of both countries. The Singapore government authorities offered 5 plots of land in response to the outcry. There were reportedly 5 bids as at August 23, 2003.

Presently, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) apartments which house over 80% of the Singaporeans legally do not permit the cats as pets, the people who love stray cats and are obedient legally, cannot keep them inside HDB apartments.

There is a little known role of the usefulness of stray cats. They hunt rats which are still existing in Singapore's food courts and in areas where there are food. They are better than the toxic chemicals used by pest controls. When they are eliminated, the rats will thrive.

As for stray dogs, there are very few of them in Singapore. They are found mainly in the industrial areas where the public complaints against them are fewer compared to the stray cats at food centres and in residential areas.

Now, will the profitability of the venture be sustainable over the next 9 years (three-yearly renewal tender of three terms)? Most people have their doubts about the viability of the business which will be based solely on boarding income and donations from kind people, volunteers and corporations.

However, there may be a situation where there are insufficient number of stray cats by the time the kennels are built! This will take at least one year and much depends on how active the authorities are in culling!

There is still the issue of "dog licence fees" payable to the government. There are no cat licensing fees presently but I do not expect this free situation to continue as the bureaucrats must also be under pressure to generate income to sustain their operations. If the kennel operators house 5,000 stray neutered dogs, the fees will be a substantial source of income for the government.

Kennel maintenance costs are high in Singapore. The kennels will be a sore sight to prospective donors if the operators can't afford to pay for the operating and maintenance costs. This will lead to less donations and less revenue. With no more money, the kennels will just rust and deteriorate. The operators become bankrupt within a few years.

The government tenders of small plots of land of one acres for kennels strictly for stray neutered cats and dogs is not a viable business proposition. With no permission of say, 50% of the premises for commercial operations like boarding, pet accessories, grooming, breeding or veterinary aspects, there will not be any revenue to subsidise the loss-making part of the kennels. The overheads are just too high and donations from the public and corporations are not reliable and in sufficient amounts.

Singapore stray cat, pregnant and anaemic

However, many stray cats need more than a roof over their head. They need to be dewormed and vaccinated against the respiratory viruses and these veterinary aspects are often overlooked by the volunteers who just feed and neutered them and release them at the food centres.

Since it is easy to catch the stray cats who now "trust" people at food centres, the authorities should have no problem culling them. There is much time and financial pressure on stray cat organisations and lovers to take the cats from the food centres and provide safe houses for them in this interim period. They need to rent apartments and houses for the cats as a cheaper alternative to commercial kennels.

The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority may not have much to do if they cannot find the street cats anymore! Landlords may face a different set of authorities for renting their place to more than the permitted 3-dog per house regulation dogs and 1-dog, no cat-in-HDB apartment rules!

References:
The Straits Times Sat Jul 19 03. Forum. Pg 28
The Forum Editor Writes: "Its been raining cats and fairies"

The Straits Times Forum receives an average of 60 letters, almost all via email. In May 24, 25 and 26, 119/280 letters or 43% were on the cat culling controversy. The overwhelming majority were against the move by the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority to cull cats. In the homosexual debate related to the Government move to employ gays, 145/204 letters were a record received on Wed Jul 16 03.

The Sunday Times Jun 8 03.
"Cat lovers say 2,000 strays from culling". 2,000 stray cats have been rescued since the intensified culling of strays first made headlines late last month.