SPCA to neuter stray cats on St John's island

THE Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) will return to St John's Island on Jan 18 to neuter stray cats, which they say are a growing problem there.

A team of 24 SPCA staff, vets, volunteers and students from Temasek Polytechnic's Veterinary Technology course will spend three days on the island. They will trap the cats, neuter then release them.

The SPCA noticed "an alarming number" of about 80 cats on St John's during their previous neutering exercise last November when it neutered more than 30.

SPCA executive director Corinne Fong added yesterday that they also came across 15 pure-bred cats that may have been abandoned by owners or breeders. The SPCA visits the island every quarter to neuter cats. In 2011, it neutered about 70 cats.

"The population is still growing but at a slower rate," said Ms Fong. "We aim to sterilise as many as is humanly possible. But we don't want to wipe out the cat colony there and some cats are just too feral and smart for us to catch."

The SPCA plans to bring kittens that they may find on the island back to the mainland for adoption.

Animal welfare groups have been consistently calling for a national effort to sterilise stray dogs and cats, to help control their numbers and reduce the need for the authorities to cull them.

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