Allow cats in HDB flats

Move to stop culling strays a humane one; now for the next step
Judith Tan Straits Times 17 Jun 11;

TOMORROW will see the dawn of a brave new day for cats and cat lovers in Chong Pang constituency.

For the first time, a town council in Singapore - Sembawang - will commit itself to not culling stray cats. It will launch a more humane programme to manage the population of stray cats in the areas under its care in Chong Pang. This will mean working with animal welfare groups and activists to sterilise cats and manage their feeding in a responsible manner, such as cleaning up food scraps.

Cat owners in Chong Pang can breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that if their pets wander off, the creatures will not face the threat of being captured and culled.

This is a welcome change. Hopefully, more town councils will follow suit.

The change comes about two weeks after a June 2 blog post by new National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan. He said he had asked the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) to review its practice of culling stray cats. He also tasked Minister of State Tan Chuan-Jin with working with the AVA, animal welfare groups and residents to 'forge a compassionate and mature approach to this problem'.

The issue is a longstanding one. It pits those who consider stray cats a nuisance against those who love cats and want to protect them.

The anti-cat camp says stray cats dirty common areas with their poo and pee, and make a lot of noise at night during mating season. Worse, they say, cat lovers' indiscriminate feeding of strays leaves food scraps that attract other pests.

On the other side are cat lovers who say there is no need to kill strays. Instead, sterilise them to keep the population under control, and make sure those who feed them clean up the mess, they say.

Unfortunately, the short-term quick fix has been to cull stray cats. Last year, about 5,100 stray cats were put down. In 2009, the number was 5,400, and in 2008, the figure was 6,800.

But culling creates other problems. For one thing, the rat population will go up if cats are culled too aggressively. When the AVA cancelled its Stray Cat Rehabilitation Scheme in 2003 and turned to culling strays, a rat extermination drive had to be launched in estates along Hume Avenue and Taman Jurong later that year.

Rather than cull, Mr Khaw favours a community-centred approach where the AVA and town councils involve cat lovers in eliminating the nuisance created by irresponsible behaviour and in sterilising the cats to control their population.

In fact, past experience shows that culling was not always the favoured option and that sterilisation can and did work. AVA had a Stray Cat Rehabilitation Scheme in 1998 to control the cat population in Housing Board estates. Dedicated volunteers worked with town councils to feed the cats, clean up after them and take them for free sterilisation.

Sterilised cats do not cause a noise nuisance, a common complaint received. They also remain to defend their territory and help check the number of rats and cockroaches.

Another sterilisation project helped control the stray cat population in Bukit Merah View in 1997. This was followed by a survey of residents. The results, published in the Singapore Veterinary Journal in 2000, showed that up to 96 per cent of the public preferred to have stray cats controlled, not culled.

But these steps towards a humane policy on stray cats were derailed by the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) crisis of 2003. A news report that house cats and ferrets can catch the Sars virus and spread it to other animals led to more culling of strays.

At that time, the AVA website had figures over 10 years which showed that culling had no impact on the cat population or the number of complaints received about the nuisance caused by strays.

AVA also stated then: 'Culling by pest control companies removes cats that are easily caught, leaving the wilder and often more prolific cats to continue to multiply. This method may produce immediate, short-term results but the results are temporary.'

AVA's decision to go back to culling despite it being a short-term fix led some to question at that time why it was implementing a policy it did not appear to subscribe to.

In swaying between sterilisation and culling as a control measure, the pendulum is now swinging back to sterilisation.

This is the right policy, as it is more humane. After all, there is no need to kill 5,000 cats a year just because some residents complain of dirty void decks. Sterilisation and stray cat management require more effort from town councils and volunteers, but many cat lovers will be prepared to do their part.

One issue worth looking into is whether to allow cats to be kept in HDB flats.

The Housing Board's current ban on cats in flats is explained on its website thus: 'Nuisance caused by cats such as shedding of their fur, defaecating/uri-nating in public areas or even the caterwauling sounds that they make can cause a lot of disturbance, which affects the environment and disrupts neighbourliness in our housing estates.'

But in fact, these problems can be overcome if owners are responsible. After all, HDB already allows dogs to be kept in flats, if these are of approved breeds - small dogs are considered more manageable. Since all dogs are required to be licensed and microchipped, HDB has recourse to take action against irresponsible owners who dump their pets or let their dogs dirty common premises.

A similar approach can be taken for cats. Those who want to keep cats in HDB flats can be required to apply for a licence to do so. This will provide HDB and town councils with the teeth needed to deal with irresponsible owners, if they fail to clean up or they let their cats wander.

Having HDB flat owners keep cats as pets will provide homes for some strays and keep them off the streets. Licensing allows the authorities and cat welfare groups to work together and focus their attention on the minority of cat owners who may be irresponsible.

On their part, cat lovers will have to show that they can keep their cats in order.

A more balanced and compassionate approach to the stray cat problem will require more community effort. But it can reduce the caterwauling over this issue to a purr.