As many of you know, Dawn will be leaving the Cat Welfare Society at the end of this year. She has been a volunteer and subsequently a full-time employee of the society for nine years. She has played an integral role in building the society, so much so that her name is almost synonymous with CWS. Understandably, the announcement of her decision to leave CWS has evoked much anxiety among caregivers who have benefitted much from her unyielding devotion to her work, as well as among committee members of the society. Along with the departure of several other key committee members throughout the year, such as Rebecca and Jacin (whom we are saddened to lose), the question on everyone's minds is, "How will CWS continue to function?".

Dawn leaves very big shoes to fill and to be realistic, it will not be possible for the society to continue to provide the same level of assistance in the period immediately following her departure. The remaining committee members will have to regroup, do our best to cope with the reduced manpower while rebuilding the committee. The following are changes that will have to be implemented in the immediate term.

Mediation - Unfortunately, we will have to scale back on mediation work for now. If you are experiencing problems in your neighbourhood, do feel free to email info@catwelfare.org. We will continue to provide assistance over email, but will unlikely be able to conduct face-to-face mediation.

Adoption - CWS will continue to run the adoption board online but with some changes. CWS will no longer be the intermediary between potential adopters and fosters. Anyone posting cats for adoption will have to agree to having their email address/phone number on the adoption board so that potential adopters can contact them directly.

Sterilisation - We will continue to take sterilisation bookings at our sterilisation voice box 7000-CATSNIP (7000-2287647). The subsidy will continue to be SGD 20 per cat and SGD 60 for the fifth cat.

Talks and TNRM workshops - We will continue to do talks and to run TNRM workshops on request. If you can gather at least six people who are interested to attend, drop us a note and we will be happy to run a TNRM workshop for you.

Queries - We can be reached, as always, at info@catwelfare.org. We may take longer than usual to get back to you, but rest assured that we will respond within three days of receiving your email.

We hope to have your continued support as we go through this transitional phase.

Michelle Lee
President, Cat Welfare Society