We trapped a total of 6 more cats for neutering on Sunday.
We haven't received the bill for the cats' sterilisation operations yet because only 4 cats have gone under the knife at this time, the other 2 are still waiting for slots at the clinic, currently all 6 at Damy's boarding house.
It was an eventful night. While we didn't manage to trap all the cats we wanted to, we did meet a lot of residents living at this area and had the chance to share about TNRM, why we were doing it and how. The members of this community are very tight-knit and everyone knows everyone. Our education process should be spreading through the grapevine well.
We also met many cat-friendly humans. One family has been helping to rescue cats in need in this area and we directed them to re-home the kitten they are now fostering, through Cat Welfare's adoption page. They have never re-homed a kitten before, usually fostering sick or injured strays for a couple of days before returning them back to their territory, so this resource that CWS provides will be useful for their fostering work in future too. Community members solving community problems!
Another member of the community who works in one of the shops nearby, has been actively stopping a man who catches cats to kill - this man is using a net and a gunny sack to trap and kill strays in this area. We asked if his vehicle had a pest control logo, or if he was sent by Town Council. It seems that his vehicle is a private one (no logo, shopkeeper recorded his license plate), and the Town Council replied him that they did not schedule any cat culling, that this man is not sent by them. We advised the member of the community to call the police again when this man shows up as his killing of cats using a gunny sack is not legal and constitutes as cruelty to animals, an actual crime.
There were also other interesting happenings. This signboard -
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| The signboard the TC put up at Blk 45 |
has been taken down! Damy had taken a photo of it, sent it to Michelle from Jurong West, who then sent a complaint letter to Jalan Besar Town Council. By the time we arrived on Sunday, the sign was completely removed. The human litter problem is still ongoing though, but definitely no sudden occurrence of cat-feeding related litter arose - what was the Town Council thinking anyway when they put up the sign? More dustbins would have been better provision for the residents of this area.
Speaking of human litter, halfway while we were trapping the cats, someone threw a firecracker - yes, the illegal kind - down from a kitchen window and it landed near us and exploded. Killer litter with an illegal explosive! No cats or humans were harmed, thankfully. It sounded like a gunshot. Prank by kid? Or by someone who thought we were trapping cats to cull? Or by someone who just hates cats? Either way, we were too caught up in our work with the stray cats to call the police about it. We just suffered ringing in our ears and continued.
As for the remaining cats that eluded the trapping, we concluded that many of them are not actually part of this territory, but have free-roamed from a cat-hoarder's house nearby (a terrace house). They live there, but come out to eat the stray cats' food, mate, then go back home. We are not sure how many of those we trapped are from that house, and how many are actually resident strays of this car park. There were 2 or 3 un-neutered cats left at the car park when we left. Here is a pic of one of them (taken by volunteer Afandy) -
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| Baby faced, mature kitten. Didn't want to come out. |
This cat above is definitely one of the strays resident to this car park. But she has always been very shy every time we see her.
Volunteer Afandy also managed to get pictures of the black kitten (the orange and white one was nowhere to be seen on Sunday, there are only 2 kittens in this area). He is a bit less feral now but still hides when humans approach -
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| Hiding under a parked vehicle |
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| Doesn't come out when spotted by humans |
The first cat we managed to trap is the talkative boy cat we met during TNRM round 1 here. Friendly, allows us to pet him, and easily grabbed by scruff and placed into a carrier. Andy and Damy christened him Bobby on the spot.
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| Bobby talking to Andy |
The other cats all needed humane traps because all were feral. The traps were placed throughout the entire car park and where the usual feeding stations would be. Here is one of their usual feeding spots -
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| Corner of car park near terrace houses |
Here are the mugshots of the 6 strays we trapped for neutering.
The first picture is Bobby, picture taken by Afandy -
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| Bobby, tabby/white male - actually LIKED the carrier |
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| Black |
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| "Ah Beng" a male black/white |
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| Another black/white |
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| Tabby/white |
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| Torbie/white |
That's it - 6 on Sunday, 7 during first round, 12 cats sterilised here. Will return to this colony again when we neuter Mary Lou after she has completed nursing her kittens so she can finally go home.
