Commentary: Reversal of HDB cat ban a first step towards better cat welfare, but more needs to be done

On Dec 2, 2023, Senior Minister of State for National Development Tan Kiat How announced a proposed cat management framework by the National Parks Board’s Animal and Veterinary Service (AVS) that would reverse the decades-long ban on the keeping of cats in Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats. This marks a positive and progressive step towards creating a more inclusive and harmonious living environment for both cat owners and their neighbours.

While the current ban has been in place for over three decades, it has long been understood that any issues caused by cats are a direct result of their owners’ irresponsibility. Responsible cat owners do not cause disamenities to their neighbours or surroundings, instead ensuring that their cats are neutered and responsibly cared for within their homes.

It is the owners who allow their cats to indiscriminately roam around and leave them unsterilised, causing caterwauling and marking, who are the issue. In recognition of this, enforcement action has typically been taken only against irresponsible cat owners.

This new proposal goes a long way towards legitimising responsible cat owners with clearly established baseline conditions.

The proposed mandatory microchipping and licensing regime put forth in the suggested framework will achieve the aims of traceability and accountability that groups such as the Cat Welfare Society (CWS) have been advocating for. Keeping cats safely indoors and disallowing unsupervised roaming also reduces the risk of unnecessary loss of life or injuries.

However, there still remain a handful of issues that warrant further consideration:

STERILISATION MUST BE MADE MANDATORY

While sterilisation is strongly encouraged and attempts have been made to incentivise it, it is not mandated and remains missing from the AVS’ list of proposed conditions. This is a wasted opportunity to truly raise welfare standards for pet cats and reduce the resource burden on the authorities, animal welfare groups and individual caregivers and rescuers.

Sterilisation not only provides numerous direct health benefits to the cat, it also prevents overpopulation and ensures more welfare resources per cat.

It also minimises behaviours such as caterwauling, indiscriminate roaming and spraying to mark territory — the very behaviours that the current ban seeks to eliminate. Reports relating to irresponsible cat ownership comprise some 70 per cent of CWS’ case load on cat-related feedback and certainly a significant portion of town council, HDB and AVS officers’ workloads as well.

Mandatory sterilisation will address the root of much of this feedback, leading to a more efficient and effective use of time and resources.

PERMIT FOR FOSTERS

The second issue is the need to carve out a separate permit for individuals who foster cats in their home.

These individuals are critical in Singapore’s cat ecology, as they take in and care for cats in need of rehoming or even medical or end-of-life palliative care. They bear a community’s burden in their role, and their contributions must be recognised and protected.

Stakeholders in this matter including CWS are set to work with AVS on developing the parameters for such a permit.

THRESHOLD NUMBERS

The third issue is the threshold number of cats in HDBs and private premises.

The proposed numbers are two and three respectively, but the basis for these numbers is unclear. CWS’ door-to-door survey conducted over the past two years have shown that the majority of cat owners living in HDBs (approximately 85 per cent) have three or fewer cats. Perhaps the more logical starting point would therefore have been three cats.

The most obvious benefit is to the authorities or enforcement personnel, as fewer checks will need to be conducted on owners with more than the threshold number of cats to ensure compliance to conditions.

It would also remove the disparity in the threshold number of cats between public and private housing owners.

In the lead-up to the formal overturning of the ban and during the transition period, we anticipate that there will be misunderstanding and potentially panic caused by the proposed threshold. There is a risk that irresponsible cat owners with more than the proposed threshold number of cats might abandon or recklessly give their pets away.

To mitigate this, there must be clear communication from authorities that a transition period allows for some leeway and that one’s ability to keep more than the threshold number of cats is entirely dependent on their adherence to the licensing conditions.

There must also be sufficient information and engagement, and, where necessary, case-by-case assistance to cat owners to help meet the conditions. We have encountered numerous families and cat owners that do not understand the proposal or have missed the news entirely. Many do not know how to take the actual registration steps or how to undertake some of the framework’s requisites – meshing a gate, for example.

Such owners will need assistance, and this can be done through extensive engagement through multiple touchpoints including residents’ committees and networks, social care workers and even friends and relatives.

Animal welfare groups can also pitch in to educate uninformed or financially distressed pet owners. Since November 2020, under the Pet Cat Sterilisation Programme (PCSP), CWS has helped to sterilise and microchip over 6,600 pet cats belonging to over 2,000 families that could not otherwise afford the procedures.

A fourth issue is the content of the proposed pet ownership course. This is currently under development by the AVS, but it should not be taken lightly and instead go some way towards levelling the entryway to pet ownership between adopted and purchased (legally or illegally) pets.

Pet ownership is a weighty decision, and the adopter must understand the long-term commitment required.

With a standardised pet ownership course, it is hoped that even those who choose to buy their pets become better educated about the commitments and take the lives of their cats more seriously.

These developments show that we are on the cusp of great change to better the welfare of both our cats and their owners. I encourage all to lend your voices once again in the survey being conducted by the National Parks Board to ensure we have a meaningful starting point.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Thenuga Vijakumar is the president of the Cat Welfare Society. She began volunteering with the society over 10 years ago and has a keen interest in the humane care and treatment of Singapore cats.