On Friday night we went with our sterilisation volunteers Liyin and Imran to Eunos Crescent for a reconnaissance of the stray cat colonies there.
Eunos Crescent has been very well managed for awhile now by Lynn, the main caregiver of the area. Lynn handles the Marine Parade Town Council complaints from residents, manages the network of cat feeders, and conducts sterilisation for most of the blocks of Eunos Crescent where the cat feeders are unable to sterilise on their own.
But recently, the stray cat population spiralled out of control because of repeated cat abandonment, particularly at 2 main sites of Eunos Crescent: the central area of Blocks 1 and 1A, and Block 25 which flanks a big carpark and contains a substation and rubbish dump. We have identified these 2 sites to be in critical need of mass sterilisation immediately.
Eunos Crescent Site 1: Blk 1 and 1A
Blocks 1 and 1A are adjoining blocks that flank a small car park, located near the Eunos MRT station. There is a busy 24-hour coffee shop at this location and a lot of foot traffic.
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| Eunos Crescent Blocks 1 and 1A |
We counted 16 unsterilised cats at this location, all identified as new to the area by caregivers. The sterilised cats at this location have been outnumbered and hang out at Blk 2 instead. The new 16 cats roam the car park, the void deck, and behind the coffeeshop at Blk 1A. There is a high incidence of killer litter in this area as well.
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| Main carpark between Blks 1 & 1A |
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| 16 cats congregate at this location in turns |
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| Tipped ear sterilised cat, at Blk 2 |
Eunos Crescent Site 2: Blk 25
At this block, 13 unsterilised cats were sighted at 4 main locations: beneath the block, at the carpark flanking the adjacent factories, throughout the main carpark, and at the rubbish dump. The rubbish dump is the favourite dump site where cats have been found abandoned which has caused the cat population here to escalate. Because of this, there have been a lot of resident complaints from this block.
We did identify a suspected cat dumper of this area based on witness reports, and did a stakeout to see if we could catch him in the act. Unfortunately, we did not see him dumping, but he did come to feed the cats in the area together with his wife. We communicated the message across about the high number of resident complaints about the cats and told them to keep a low profile when feeding, out of the sight of the block's windows. Also, that if they were to spot anyone dumping cats at this site, to contact us, and passed them our namecard.
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| Eunos Crescent Block 25 |
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| Block 25 |
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| The main carpark |
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| The rubbish dump, on its right - a substation |
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| The industrial carpark next to Blk 25 |
(For all the kittens rescued here that need veterinary care, we will do a separate posting on their condition after rehabilitation - sponsors for their veterinary care, and fosterers, may be needed.)
This is one kitten we found with a very bad intestinal worm infection: a worm was being eliminated halfway by the kitten when it was found, and it was having such bad diarrhoea that the skin around its legs and anal area was infected that it couldn't walk properly.
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| Kitten with bad worm infestation |
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| Worms caused skin infection |
Another kitten found here was having such bad flu', conjunctivitis has sealed one of her eyes shut. She also has half a leg missing leaving only a stump.
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| Sick tortoiseshell kitten |
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| Bad conjunctivitis in one eye |
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| Has half a hind leg missing |
We need to solve the problem of sick kittens being born at this location and resident complaints - through sterilising all the new entire cats that have been dumped here. There are currently no other sponsors for the sterilisation of these cats other than Lynn herself, which is why we need to conduct a mass TNRM project together as a team, with your help. After the bulk of the new cats have been neutered and returned here, it will be more manageable for the caregivers to continue - be it neutering of any new future cats or kittens that grow up here, or in handling the resident complaints.
What you can do:
We will be conducting sterilisation for Site 2 - Blk 25 first, targeting to do the first round at the end of this month. There were 13 adult cats counted at this site. We need funds to be able to conduct 2 rounds of trapping for sterilisation of these 13 cats. Assuming an equal ratio of male to female cats, the entire TNRM project for Eunos Crescent Blk 25 will cost around $775. For Site 1 - Blks 1 & 1A, the estimated cost for neutering the 16 cats there will be about $900 in 2 separate rounds of trapping. This means that we need a total of $1,675 to neuter all the 29 new cats spotted in Eunos Crescent.
You can help by contributing financially toward our Sterilisation Fund - 1 male cat costs $40 to trap and neuter, and 1 female cat costs $65-75 - including boarding and transportation to and from the vet.
We are currently having a shortfall in our Sterilisation Fund because Cat Welfare sterilisation reimbursements have have been delayed, and we heard word that it may be delayed even further. Your help will make a difference in helping us go on in our sterilisation efforts for stray cat colonies in dire need.
To contribute towards the sterilisation of the Eunos Crescent cats, make a deposit into our Love Kuching bank account POSB savings 188-52652-7 and contact Elaine at 90880675 / elaine@lovekuchingproject.org to indicate that your contribution is for our Sterilisation Fund.
Any amount you are able to contribute will go a long way. We will sterilise as many cats of Eunos Crescent as the funds are available. In order to start the first round of trapping at Site 2 - Blk 25, we will need about $350-$400. Once we can raise this amount we will immediately start work on conducting TNRM for the Eunos Crescent cats.
