Monday, February 4, 2008

Who constitutes the general public?

I just responded to an email from someone who is running an area (not a TC) that a caregiver started a programme in. Unfortunately this officer does not seem to want to continue the programme and wants the cats removed. He went on to say that he would just have the AVA hae the cats removed repeatedly as long as he was there.

Firstly, the officer seems to be seriously misguided on several matters (including the fact that feeding the cats will prolong their life span to 12 to 16 years and even what a 'stray' cat is). The caregiver kept asking him what he was doing with regards to abandonment which they are rightly concerned about right now - and he kept saying they are not dealing with abandonment but with the end result of abandonment. What that means exactly I'm not sure - of course the cats are there because of abandonment - so what are they doing about abandonment in the first place? Removing and killing the cats clearly does not do that.

Secondly, the officer said that he did not want people from a Society to handle complaints arising from the general public. This officer kept asking the caregiver if she was from any society - and she had told him repeatedly that she was not. He also said that a society is set up without recognition or support from the government and does not represent the goals of a country.

Now that just annoys me. Clearly a society IS set up with recognition from the government - otherwise, it wouldn't be registered BY the authorities otherwise. Also, the point is that societies are made up of people - a segment of the so-called 'general public' though of course they may have common interests of beliefs. More irritating to me, how can an officer brush someone off by claiming that they do NOT hold the same common beliefs as the 'general public'. So basically the general public believes in wasting tax payers' money to repeatedly remove and kill cats? They believe that again tax payers' money should be spent when there are other members of the general public who are willing to spend their time and effort and money FREE to take care of the problem?

Plus how does this officer know what the common belief of the general public is? Has he gone out and done a survey? Spoken to everyone who uses the facilities and quizzed them on this? Or is he basically one person trying to impose what he thinks is best and then claiming this is what the majority wants? It wouldn't even be so worrying if it seemed that this person knew what he was talking about and was thus able to make an educated guess - which from his emails, he clearly does not.

I just wrote back to say that as a member of the general public, I am very disappointed to see that this is how the organisation is intending to waste tax payer's money. They are not doing anything to curb abandonment - they are just intending to get AVA to trap and remove the cats (which I have checked with AVA - and which they will not do) which costs money. Even if they do not hire pest control, this will involve manpower and hours - which could have been better spent doing something which IS within the organisation's ambit - and is a waste of money and effort.

So who constitutes the general public? Anyone who complains? Anyone except the person who is writing to them at the moment?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

The lack of common sense in this officer, who seems to be just protecting his rice bowl on what he deems would be unpopular if he agrees to the caregiver's proposal, then doesn't warrant protecting his identity by a public declaration for support and also for condemnation of this officer. If he gets a mass of email from the public, it may just save the lives of the cats there.

Dawn said...

I think the caregivers are thinking about that. If the officers wants to hear from the general public then perhaps the general public can write to him!

Anonymous said...

Bloody idiot earning taxpayers's money and not only talk rubbish but also intend to be a mass cat killer.

This is the impression he or she has given me. Which lousy TC has such a sub-zero IQ officer?
And how dare he tries to SILENCE animal welfare groups. The relevent authorities should be informed.

Dawn said...

It wasn't a TC officer but someone from a statutory board in charge of an area.

Anonymous said...

Do a genuine petition by personally asking our friends and having real particulars in them. These can then be submitted to the head of the stat board where this officer work.

If the cats are going to lose their lives, have a good fight now!

Anonymous said...

Let's just up the ante... write to forum page. Emphasis the point of "Societies are going against the government"

Let's see what happens.

Dawn said...

Anonymous - yes certainly a genuine petition, with peoples' real names and particulars.

Anonymous - this isn't a Society going against the government. In the first place, I seriously doubt this officer represents what the authorities are trying to do (especially in light of active citizens being encouraged) and secondly, because these caregivers aren't a society - they're just members of the public who care about the cats in this area.

Anonymous said...

This guy from Stat board must present his case for wanting to slaughter all the cats. His views are not legalistic nor morally inspiring. One sick man's vision to wipe out the community cats cannot be tolerated.

Dawn said...

Yes and clearly he doesn't want to do the work either. He's hoping to get the AVA to come and clear the cats, which they won't do.

Anonymous said...

He is mean as hell, his sick thoughts make me want to challenge his position in his office. He will destroy humans as well like sabotage his colleagues etc. if he is not happy.