A cat-and-mouse game

SINGAPORE - There are about 30 cats living around 10 blocks in Hougang Avenue 8 and company executive Angela Ling says she knows each cat by name and personality.

The 37-year-old lived in the area for more than 20 years before she moved to Sengkang seven years ago, but she has remained attached to the Hougang cats.

Ms Ling used to accompany her late mother on her cat-feeding rounds in the estate.

And for the past 10 years, she has been playing another important role: protecting these cats if residents complain about them.

Ms Ling, who is the vice-president of the Cat Welfare Society (CWS), works closely with the area's town council to mediate on cat-related issues.

She is one of the mediators from the group, which handled more than 2,000 cases last year.

Ms Ling, who is not paid for her efforts, said the reward is in knowing that fewer cats are culled.

She is also actively involved in the Trap-Neuter-Return-Manage programme that was started by the CWS.

It involves allowing a cat back to its original environment after it has been caught and sterilised.

She said: "Simply removing cats from the community is not the solution because of the vacuum effect.

"Cats are territorial, so the number of cats within a community will usually stay constant because the new cats will be chased away. However, if you remove the original cats, new cats will move into the unoccupied space."

The volunteer, who has a full-time job, started out with mediation cases in Hougang, but has since been involved in cases in other neighbourhoods such as Serangoon and Sengkang.

Ms Ling, who is married, spends two to three hours a week on mediation work.

She said: "There was no official training, but we learnt on the job and will liaise with the CWS when we have any queries."

Passion

"Although this job affects my personal time, I don't mind because it is my passion."

One of her most memorable cases involved a hoarder with 30 cats living in a one-room rental flat in Lavender.

"You could tell which flat it was when you got out of the lift at her level because of the smell. We understood the concerns of the authorities and neighbours in this situation and worked hard to rehome the cats."

She added with a laugh: "We are not nonsensical cat people."

Ms Ling said that mediation requires a lot of time, courage and a thick skin.

She has had to deal with doors being slammed in her face while trying to talk to residents. She has even resorted to stalking cats to monitor their moves and to find out who has been feeding them.

She said: "There will always be people who hate cats, but we have to make sure that complaints are attended to.

"Often, the complaints arise from ignorance about responsible cat ownership or feeding."

For Ms Ling, the most fulfilling part of her mediation work is getting to know the people in her neighbourhood.

"Taking care of the community cats in the neighbourhood bonds people together.

"During mediation, I meet people who like cats and people don't like cats. It's a joint effort to come up with a solution."

This article was first published on MONTH DAY, 2014.
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