Thanks to Aminah for sending in this link :-
Dispute over welfare of 130 cats to involve authorities
You can also click on the accompanying video. Sadly the losers in this are once again the cats. It also unfortunately does give the impression that feeders fight among themselves and aren't very united even when they are supposedly all working for the same cause. It does reinforce a negative stereotype.
I do not know the situation in this particular instance (though I do know both feeders) but I think this shows once again why shelters cannot work. No matter how well you try and run it, it's a huge drain on resources and so many more cats could be helped with the money. Imagine what can be done with $30000 a year to help the community cats and how many cats could have been helped with that same sum of money.
13 comments:
Why drag the press in when what the cats need is food. Full of quarrels, bad start to the new year so beware the difficult days ahead.
Satanic attack on cat feeders, public will think cat feeders are a lousy bunch of lunatics.
Please, stop the silly fight, if Lily needs pet food, give her pet food and don't try and change her...look at the cats, don't look at Lily!
I agree that the press is best left out of a situation like this, but I have to also say that I think it IS important to look at the caregivers. A lot of people concentrate on the cats but forget that the caregivers are an important part of how the cats are going to be treated. It's not always as easy as giving food - sometimes by doing so, you're enabling the person to continue taking in more cats (and I'm not speaking about this case specifically) and this would be bad for all the cats.
Oh dear.. puts caregivers and feeders in a bad light. I wonder why the matter is so newsworthy when it looks like a private matter. You're right that with the same amount of money and support, more cats will benefit. But I guess we can't stop how people want to show their love for these fellas.
Anyway we can assist?
One way of helping Lily is to find out which brand of pet food she is feeding as she fear cats would suffer from brand switching.
My thoughts:
-The person who reported this obviously has no love for animals. This looks like a private matter blown out of proportion.
- It's so easy to say that shelters wont work but has anyone considered why pple get cats into shelters in the first place? If sterilised cats' welfare out ther is protected fully then i believe naturally it would follow that most people would be happy leaving the cats out there. So maybe more could be done there so that people need not resort to goin to shelters. We need a more understanding and tolerant society who understands that the world is not only for people but animals hv a place as well.
-And it doesnt necessarily mean that helping such cases will encourage them to bring in more cats into the shelters. If nobody helps now, would that improve the situation?
- Are there absolutely no shelters that work? or is it that usually only the negative news comes up!
i know of a shelter that does work. i know of that place more as a loving home than a shelter for the animals. i know the animals there are love and treated as part of the family. The animals there are fed premium food serve individually on a plate.
How a shelter 'survive' depends totally on the commitment and love of the people and volunteers operating it.
i too feel this case should never have been make public. To announce she is on cup noodle is indirectly saying the cats are eating into her expenses. To reject offers of help is indirectly rejecting help offered to the cats.
If ego can be put aside, i am sure this case need not end the way it ended. If feeders can be more supportive and tolerant of each other, and work towards one goal, then such 'mishap' should never happen.
i disagree with the notion that feeders should mind their own business because ultimately it's never about another feeder(s) but more so on the cats.
i truly hope nothing will happen in this case and that all the cats will be given clean bill of health and be safe.
A shelter is where multiple cats live - within the wired walls.
If i am a cat, i would not like to live like that - with other cats whom i may not get along, with infections, with petty quarrels (just like people only you cannot walk away from that), with nothing to do and nothing to see. It is as good as going to a nursing home at a young age & you leave only when you are dead. Depression is common.
I may live a shorter life on the streets - but i have freedom and most important....making choices.
Then after cats, what's next - monkeys in shelter? birds in shelter? squirrels in shelters.....where do you draw the line?
Yes, if cat is not able to fend for itself, by all means, put it in a shelter to live out its remaining mths or years peacefully.
This is about 130 cats in a shelter that someone is caring for privately, how about the tens of thousands on the streets?
Lilly is very kind to care for these 130 cats and that is commendable. Leave Lilly to care for these cats as they already have a care-giver.
Think about the ones on the streets - urgently needing sterilisation to keep the feline population from increasing.
Anonymous - you asked why some people take cats into shelters. The reason I can tell you that some do is that there ARE alternatives but they refuse to consider them. For example, refusing to work with the TC.
Also there are people who believe that cats OFF the streets are always better off there - don't forget the people cat-napping the cats thinking that they were better off in a shelter, though they HAD caregivers and were safe.
The question is - are the cats really better off in a shelter? And the question is not whether there are good or bad shelters but do shelters do anything for the welfare of the cats as a whole? Every time a case like this pops up people get upset, and they should, but think of this, on average every 4 DAYS as many cats are killed - and these are healthy cats. What should be done? Take in another 130 cats - or try and do something that will help far more cats out there by running a TNRM programme.
Mary - I know there are well run shelters but the point remains. How many cats can you help? 2000? Then all the money gets sucked into the shelter - and the remaining 580000-78000 cats quickly breed to replace the number you picked off the street. Did it really help?
As for food again the question is this - how many shelters are you going to support? How many cats are you really helping? I know of people who are saying the cats are starving. But are they still taking cats in? Can someone all alone really cope with a huge number of cats? Can they afford it? What if sponsorship dries up? It's not a case of doing it first and then panicking when the money runs out - because again the cats will suffer.
I spoke with someone the other day who was thinking of putting a cat in a shelter, and the person thought it through very carefully. What would the cost be? Could they count on someone else who said they MIGHT sponsor the place? what if they changed their minds as other financial obligations crop up?
remember - it's easy to put a cat IN a shelter. It's not easy to take them back out.
Well Dawn, i do support TNRM, and of course for healthy cats, that would be another alternative. i was responding to the question by anonymous(4)as to 'Are there absolutely no shelters that work?'. i have to admit even in good shelter=shelter that cares for the welfare of the cats; there are limitation as to the number of cats that can be accepted. At the end of the day TNRM, HDB lifting its ban, boarding, working with TC - all these are definite options.
Yes there certainly are - and as you said, there ARE good shelters. The problem is how many cats it really helps.
I think most of us who are sensible do not think that shelters are the answers to our cat problems. We are often in a dilemma when faced with a difficult situation like an abandoned small kitten, a cat with life threatening condition who recovered and then we wondered if it should be returned to the risky area again?
Rescuers do have to have their sum workout when putting a cat in a shelter but should also strive hard to find homes for them and treat the shelters as a temporary place for toilet training, learning to get along with other cats, etc.
At the same time, we must also do the other important prong of improving the lives of community cats by carrying TnRm, speak out for cats to be legally adopted in HDB and to get more governmental involvement in curtailing abandonment.
NO sensible person will put a cat in an "institution" if the estates are safe for cats to live out their lives.
Chinky - well said. I think that sometimes we have to remember, there are limits. Good intentions can only take you so far.
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