What Cat Welfare Society Has Done So Far Reports from Cat Welfare Society’s volunteer caregivers and members started coming in on the night of 20th May, informing us that stray cats, which they have been looking after, had gone missing. Some had also reported seeing pest control vans taking away the stray cats. These reports increased in intensity the next day. Meanwhile, some volunteer caregivers were told by their town councils that they would no longer be able to sterilise their cats at the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) under the Stray Cat Rehabilitation Scheme (SCRS). Cat Welfare Society contacted the AVA and town councils to ascertain if this was true. They denied this and told us that there had been no change and that everything was as per normal. However, the calls and emails from panicked caregivers and animal lovers who had heard the news increased in great numbers. Email to Ministers On 22nd May, Cat Welfare Society made the decision to email a few Ministers including Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, to ask for a meeting. We wanted to clarify the facts and find out the reasons behind what seemed to be a sudden decision. We wanted this information so that we could reassure the caregivers as well as a growing number of people from the general public, who had started to contact us for confirmation. This email was sent out that afternoon. Joint Press Conference Earlier that same day, the Cat Welfare Society had also decided that a press conference was necessary to bring the issue to public attention. This urgency was pressed on us by the near hysteria we were facing from caregivers, members, animal lovers and the general public. We invited the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and Action for Singapore Dogs (ASD) to join us in issuing a joint statement and holding a joint press conference. The press invite was sent out that very night. The press conference was held on 23rd May at 10am at the Substation. Straits Times, Channel NewsAsia, Streats, TODAY, NewsRadio 93.8, Channel I News and Lianhe Zaobao covered the event. Our press kit was also sent out to Agence France-Presse (AFP), who had requested it. Press and Media Coverage Over the weekend, reports of the intensified culling of stray cats in Singapore and the suspension of the Stray Cat Rehabilitation Scheme were carried in all the local press and media, as well as by wire agencies such as Reuters, Associated Press and AFP. Numerous press and media agencies from all over the world also picked up the story. On the night of the press conference, AVA finally released the following statement: “AVA estimates that there are about 80,000 stray cats in Singapore. As part of the “Singapore’s OK” programme to clean up the environment and improve public hygiene, AVA and the Town Councils have intensified culling of stray cats in their estates, especially at food centres, markets and areas affected by cat nuisance problems. Food establishments should not have any animals, including cats, for public health reasons.” To read the joint press statement, click here. To read the stories printed by the local media, go to http://sars.hrss.net Meeting with the Minister On the night of 22nd May, after the invitations to the media had been sent out, Cat Welfare Society received an email from Minister of State for National Development, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan asking the President of CWS, Dr Lynn Yeo to call him to arrange a meeting. The meeting took place at the Ministry of National Development on 24th May at 12.45pm. As it was a closed-door meeting, we are unable to discuss the details of the meeting. All we can say is that we are disappointed with the outcome. Taking Stray Cats Off the Streets Members as well as volunteer caregivers have been taking stray cats, especially those near food centres and markets and also in areas where, because of their numbers, the strays are more visible, off the streets. A majority of these cats have been taken into homes while others have been boarded at pet farms and pet shops. Working With Other Animal Groups Cat Welfare Society has also been working with other animal groups such as MettaCats, Action For Singapore Dogs (ASD), House Rabbit Society of Singapore (HRSS), Animal Watch, SPCA and Animal Concerns, Research and Education Society (ACRES) to share information, knowledge and resources. For example, these groups are contributing to a website set up by HRSS to educate the public on animals and SARS (http://sars.hrss.net). Media Attention With the current media interest in the culling of stray cats, CWS has been fielding a lot of media queries. We see this as an opportunity to educate both the public and the media on cats and cat-related issues like:

• the effectiveness of sterilisation as a means of stray cat population control,
• the importance of responsible pet ownership so that pets will not be abandoned
• the reiteration that there is at present no connection between cats and the transmission of the SARS virus
• the ban on cats in Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats etc.

We have also been responding to the negative and sometimes outrageous things that have been said in the media. A good example would be Class 95’s Morning Express Show on the morning of 27th May. The three DJs on the show not only peppered their programme with inaccuracies and misinformation about cats and cat-related issues, they also read out a tasteless poem called “Cull ’em, cull ’em”, suggesting that cats should be sent to Peru to be eaten, and made fun of cat lovers, telling them to get of their ‘high cat’. Cat Welfare Society sent a letter of complaint to the CEO of MediaCorp Radio, Mr Kenneth Tan, copied to Dr Tan Chin Nam, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts. To read CWS’ letter and the reply from MediaCorp Radio, click here. There was also a letter in TODAY (27TH May issue) by a Dr John James, who is not a licensed practising vet, which contained inaccurate and alarmist statements. Reacting to this letter, CWS drafted a reply with the help of Dr Ling Khoon Hsing pointing out the misinformation in his letter as well as voicing support for our stray cats. Dr Ling then managed to get 18 vets to sign the letter and it has since been sent to TODAY. To read the letter, click here (link will be working soon) What Cat Welfare Society is Doing Now Some of the items listed above, such as rescuing the strays and educating the public and media is an on-going process. We will continue to do that and speak up for the animals for as long as is necessary. However, CWS needs to look and plan ahead. The Singapore government is currently testing whether cats can carry and transmit the SARS virus. There are a few possible outcomes to this testing: 1. Cats can’t carry the virus 2. Cats can carry the virus but can’t transmit it. 3. Cats can carry the virus and can transmit it. CWS is now putting together a proposal containing solutions to each one of the possible outcomes, so that when the testing is done and the results made public, we would be ready to present the relevant authorities with our views and suggestions on the various ways we can tackle the outcome. Present Scientific Findings The good news is that to date, none of the findings about animals and SARS and their possible links are conclusive. In fact in the Straits Times on June 18th, it was reported that none of the cats, dogs and rats at Pasir Panjang market tested positive for SARS. Scientists in Singapore have also said that even if cats could carry the SARS virus, it was highly unlikely they could transmit it to humans.