LICENSING AND CONTROL OF CATS

The following Question stood in the name of Mr Simon S C Tay -

Mr Simon S C Tay: To ask the Minister for National Development what are the policies and practices relating to the licensing and control of cats.

Mr Bernard Chen (West Coast): Question No. 4, Sir.

Dr John Chen Seow Phun (for the Minister for National Development): Mr Speaker, Sir, cats are not licensed in Singapore. Unlike dogs, cats would not play an important role in the spread of rabies in the event of an outbreak in Singapore. Hence, the licensing of cats to enable quick location of the animals for disease control is not necessary. However, under the HDB Rules, lessees are not allowed to keep cats in HDB flats because it is difficult to confine a cat within a flat. By nature, they tend to wander around and can find ways and means to get out of the flat thus creating a nuisance to other residents.

The Agri-food and Veterinary Authority's (AVA) policy on the control of stray cats is to promote responsible cat ownership within the community through a voluntary Stray Cat Rehabilitation Scheme implemented by various town councils. This scheme was successfully tried out as a pilot project in Tanjong Pagar Town Council in 1998. A survey of residents in this area showed that more than 80% of them were agreeable to having the stray cats around, provided the cats are sterilised and managed so that they do not cause problems. To date, 39 areas under 12 town councils are registered under the scheme.

Under the Stray Cat Rehabilitation Scheme, volunteers get the stray cats in their community sterilised. They assist town council officers to attend to complainants of cat problems and help to resolve them. The volunteers feed the cats in an organised and hygienic way. They clear away the food remnants after feeding the cats. The sterilised cats do not reproduce and their presence deters other non-sterilised cats from settling in the area. Unsterilised cats and cats causing nuisance can be removed from the area.

AVA loans cat traps free of charge to residents who are bothered by stray cats and will collect the trapped cats without charge. Impounded cats which have been tagged, ear-tipped (to indicate that it has been sterilised), or have any other indication that it is owned, will be detained for five full working days after they are collected by AVA. Subsequently, cats that are not claimed from AVA will be put down humanely.

Stray cats are usually found in areas where food is readily available. Hence, the effective control of stray cats requires cooperation of every member of the public to dispose food waste properly and also not to feed the strays indiscriminately. Very often, well-meaning citizens feed strays indiscriminately and leave food scraps lying around. Such unhygienic practice not only increases the stray cat problem, it also exacerbates other animal nuisances, such as crows, pigeons and especially vermin.

The AVA is currently reviewing its policies and practices with a view to control indiscriminate feeding of animals as well as the abandonment of pets.

Mr Bernard Chen: Although cat is not my problem, I am asking on behalf of somebody else. If the Minister of State is in agreement that we should control cats, why do you not license them so that at least we do not shoot the wrong cats, to begin with, and whoever is the owner will have a responsibility in making sure that the cat does not stray around, but is confined to the flat?

Dr John Chen Seow Phun: Sir, I do not think licensing is the solution to stray cats. The cat can still move around and create nuisance, or scavenging on food, and so on. So I do not think there is a need, at this point in time, to license cats.

Mr Bernard Chen: If you can license dogs, what is the difference for licensing cats?

Dr John Chen Seow Phun: If something is not necessary, why do you want to create that machinery and system, just to do something which some people want.