Linette Heng The New Paper AsiaOne 20 Aug 14;
SINGAPORE - Like Ms Angela Ling, most of the mediators in the Cat Welfare Society (CWS) started out as volunteers.
The team has two full-time staff members, one part-time staff member, six board members and more than 35 volunteers.
The CWS, which was formed in 1998, has been working closely with the 16 town councils for the past six years.
Ms Joanne Ng, its chief executive, believes that its efforts in mediation have been crucial in reducing the number of cat cullings.
The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority euthanised about 1,000 strays last year, a huge drop from 3,300 in 2008 and 13,000 in 2001.
Ms Ng said: "Mediation will lead to a possible solution that both sides can tolerate.
"It also educates people of the other options available. Often, the first thought is to remove the cat, which means culling or moving the cat to another location. This just makes it another person's problem."
Catching a cat culprit
Linette Heng The New Paper AsiaOne 20 Aug 14;
SINGAPORE - She had waited at the void deck for more than an hour, hoping to catch sight of the elusive feline.
Finally, a small black adult cat appeared and scurried up the stairs.
It was the cat that had been defecating and urinating at a block at Hougang.
For the past year, Ms Angela Ling has been trying to catch the culprit in action.
She was also counselling a resident on the 11th storey to stop feeding the cat at the corridor, but to no avail.
This is an ongoing case that Ms Ling has been handling for the past year.
When The New Paper visited the block with Ms Ling one evening, the cat was loitering at the 11th storey.
It ran away as soon as it was spotted.
The resident who has been feeding the cat did not open the door when Ms Ling knocked.
A neighbour on the 12th storey, Mr Chan Hua Heng, 52, has been dealing with cat urine at his doorstep in the morning for the past year.
Neighbours
He said: "We didn't want to complain because we are all neighbours, after all. The cat urinates on our slippers so we just make sure that we keep our slippers and shoes in the shelf every night."
But someone in the neighbourhood complained to the town council, which got the Cat Welfare Society in to mediate.
Ms Ling assured the Chans that the society will be working with the resident to solve the problem. They hope to catch the cat, neuter it and hopefully re-home it.
She also gave the family some tips to get rid of the smell of cat urine - by placing lemon or vinegar on their doorstep. It will also keep the cat away.
"This is not a cat problem, it's a human problem and we'll try our best to solve it so give us some more time," she told Mr Chan in Mandarin.
