No easy solution for strays in Singapore: AVA replies

A combination of measures are used to manageanimal population here

Today Online 30 Jan 09;

Letter from Goh Shih Yong
Assistant Director, Corporate Communications for Chief Executive Officer,
Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority

We refer to the article “The outspoken doc” (Jan 20).

Stray animal population control is a complex issue and there are no easy solutions.

The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) is fully committed to ensuring animal health and welfare and has adopted a balanced approach in the management of strays.

For dogs, all must be licensed for the purpose of rabies control. Rabies is a disease fatal to man. It is endemic in this region. AVA culls stray dogs to manage the risk of rabies transmission should the disease be introduced into Singapore.

As all dogs, whether sterilised or not, are susceptible to rabies, sterilised strays should be properly homed and licensed, and not be returned to the environment.

For cats, AVA encourages sterilisation as a way to help prevent the proliferation of strays.

This alone, however, is not enough. It is a fact that stray cats, including sterilised ones, create numerous disamenities to the public, ranging from nuisance to hygiene concerns, even physical threat.

It is thus inevitable that culling has to be carried out as an additional measure to keep the stray population in check.

AVA and the Town Councils (TC) are open to working together with the community and the caregivers in looking at keeping the stray cat population manageable.

In any precinct, caregivers wanting to start a sterilisation programme for stray cats should approach and work with the TC, as the TC is in a better position to understand the concerns of the majority of its residents.

We believe, above all, that public education on responsible pet ownership is key to reducing the problem of strays.

To this end, AVA actively promotes and organises campaigns on responsible pet ownership. We are confident that with perseverance, there will be an improvement to the stray animals problem in the longer term.

We thank Dr Tan Chek Wee for his passion and commitment in helping in the management of stray cats in the community.

We are equally appreciative of the same effort put in by many other caregivers in their own communities.

While the AVA and TC will continue to work together with the community and the caregivers, we must also balance the interest of all sectors in the community, including those who are adversely affected by stray cats.