Nee Soon GRC Member of Parliament K Shanmugam signalled that such plans were afoot in his ward, an indication that momentum has picked up since a task force led by the Ministry of National Development (MND) was set up in July to review pet ownership policies.
In reply to queries, an MND spokesman said: "A number of suggestions and ideas have surfaced during the inter-agency task force's various public consultation efforts on pet ownership and stray management. A pilot scheme on cat ownership in HDB flats is one of them."
Such a scheme, though, would be "very manpower intensive if you want to look at it carefully", said Mr Shanmugam, who is also Law and Foreign Affairs Minister. "You need to go round, identify people with cats, preferably persuade them to have just one cat, register, teach them how to take care of them properly," he told reporters.
Animal activists have lobbied for years for the HDB to scrap its policy on cats, and Cat Welfare Society (CWS) vice-president Veron Lau said it would certainly be "a step forward" should cats be allowed in HDB flats.
She "preferred", though, if pet cats could have some form of companionship and interaction while their owners are at work. "The animal welfare groups feel that with our busy lifestyles, it's good to have a companion for our animal. It shouldn't be a one-pet policy," she told Today.
She added that many cat owners may have more than one unregistered cat now at home, so it might also be tricky to carry out such a rule, if implemented.
Those discussions aside, there was traction on the ground yesterday as Chong Pang launched its first official cat feeding station, paving the way for more such stations.
The cat feeding stations are designated spaces under a block of flats, marked out by a notice from the respective town council, National Environment Agency, Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority and several welfare groups, including the CWS, said Ms Lau.
The multi-agency notice will include guidelines on responsible feeding of community cats to ensure that the estate's cleanliness is maintained. Forty more such stations - one every three blocks - will be rolled out in Chong Pang over the next month. The signs will then be implemented in various zones in Ang Mo Kio, Tampines North and MacPherson, under the Stray Cat Sterilisation Programme launched in July.
Chong Pang's new approach seems to be backed by a door-to-door CWS survey conducted in July and August, which found that most of its residents - 85 per cent of 2,253 households surveyed - were against culling, which the ward stopped in June.
The poll was done to glean from residents their preferred method of managing the stray cat population. Some 85 per cent said they were supportive of community cats remaining in the estate after sterilisation. Seventeen per cent of respondents, however, had previously been troubled by cats, with the most common problem being defecation along corridors.
Original article from http://www.todayonline.com/Hotnews/EDC111031-0000101/Pilot-project-to-register-cats-in-Chong-Pang
