Speech by SMS Tan Kiat How at Pet's Day Out
Dec 2, 2023
1 A very good afternoon to all of you. Thank you for joining us at Pets’ Day Out. It is always wonderful to see so many familiar faces from our pet community coming together, including pet owners, animal welfare groups, vets, and more.
2 We have been working closely with various stakeholders to raise standards for animal health and welfare. For example, in October, we shared that we will be setting up a Veterinary Council, to regulate the standards and practices of vet professionals.
3 Last year, we also launched the AVS-Accredited Certified Dog Trainer scheme, and formalised the expanded criteria for Project ADORE, to allow larger mixed-breed dogs to be rehomed to HDB flats.
Proposed Pet and Community Cat Management Framework
4 We have also started work on a holistic framework, to improve the management and welfare of pet and community cats in Singapore. Since we shared our plans last September, AVS has been consulting the public and stakeholders extensively. In May this year, we shared some of the key findings from our public survey. Overall, respondents were strongly supportive of our proposed approach. For example, over 80% of respondents agreed that pet cats should be microchipped and licensed, and that licensing can help to improve the health, welfare, and traceability of cats.
5 Most respondents also expressed support for allowing cats as pets in HDB flats. While many respondents were supportive, we also received feedback from respondents who expressed reservations on the approach or had useful suggestions on how the framework could be improved.
6 We invited some respondents to join us for our focus group discussions that were held from June to September. These focus groups also brought together a diverse group of stakeholders including cat owners, non-cat owners, vets, animal welfare groups, and community cat caregivers. I am grateful for the participants’ constructive suggestions. Importantly, for their willingness to listen to others, understand and empathise with others’ perspectives and come to agreement on how we can move ahead as a community.
7 Just some examples: (i) those who were afraid of cats or had their sleep disturbed by unsterilised pet cats caterwauling at night heard from others who shared about the joys of cat ownership and the emotional support that this provided to them; (ii) those who were concerned about the disamenities such as pests attracted to leftover food from feeding of community cats heard from those that find fulfilment and companionship in caring for these cats and steps that they have taken to keep the estate clean; (iii) from these examples, you would get a sense that pet and community cat issues are multi-faceted and complex. Often these are not straightforward “yes” or “no” decisions. We need to hear from and balance the needs of many different segments of the community.
8 Through the survey, we reached over 30,000 respondents, who have given us many useful insights. Through the focus group discussions, we brought together diverse stakeholders to hear from each other, understand where the other party is coming from, find common ground, and jointly chart the path ahead.
9 It has taken some time, but the rich feedback garnered has been well worth the time and effort taken. Thank you all again for your invaluable inputs. We have carefully considered your feedback in refining our proposed cat management framework.
10 Today, I am happy to share more details, as well as our next steps. Let me elaborate on the framework’s three key areas.
Pet Cat Licensing Scheme
11 First, we plan to mandate the licensing and microchipping of pet cats. We already have such a scheme for pet dogs, and we intend to extend this to pet cats as well, to improve their traceability. This will allow us to respond to animal disease outbreaks more effectively, and better safeguard public health. We will also be able to hold irresponsible owners to greater account, if their cats are found to be abandoned, neglected, or abused.
12 In addition to requiring microchipping, we propose to put in place several licensing conditions to safeguard the welfare of pet cats, and to minimise disamenities caused by irresponsible cat ownership.
13 SPCA has shared that each week, it receives at least five reports of cats falling from a height. Unfortunately, many of these cats do not survive. We plan to require owners to ensure that their cats are kept in a safe environment, such as by meshing up their windows or installing grilles. Such cat-proofing options span a range of price points, and there will be something that suits every home. The simple step of securing your windows will go a long way in keeping our pet cats safe.
14 Next, when in public, owners will have to ensure that their cats are kept under control, such as by using a harness or pet carrier.
15 All first-time cat licence applicants will also be required to complete a free online course on responsible pet ownership, before they can be issued a cat licence.
16 We recognise the need to give existing cat owners ample time to meet the licensing conditions. We intend to have a two-year transition period, during which all pet cat licences will be issued free-of-charge.
17 To strike a balance between accommodating some residents’ desires to own cats, and maintaining a harmonious living environment for all, there will be limits on the number of pet cats that each household can keep.
18 For example, for HDB flats, we are proposing to allow up to two cats per household. We recognise that some households may have more pet cats than the proposed limits today. As pet ownership is a lifelong commitment, during the transition period, we propose to allow cat owners – including those living in HDB flats – to apply to license and keep all of your existing pet cats. However, this will be subject to approval by AVS, which may conduct checks to ensure that the pet cats are being kept in good conditions, their welfare is not compromised, and that they are not causing disamenities to neighbours.
19 We understand that there are cat fosterers in our community, who play an important role in caring for cats and finding forever homes for them. We are studying ways to support you.
20 Through the public consultation, we have heard calls for the sterilisation of pet cats, to stem unintended breeding. Sterilisation has health and behavioural benefits, as it reduces the risk of some cancers. Sterilised cats are also less inclined to roam and caterwaul. As such, we strongly encourage cat owners to sterilise their cats.
21 For sterilised cats that are licensed during the two-year transition period, we propose to issue free life-time licences. Fees will apply for new cat licences issued after the transition period, but sterilised cats will continue to be eligible for life-time licences. While we also plan to license unsterilised cats for free during the transition period, this licence will need to be renewed regularly following the transition period and at a higher fee.
22 We also intend to roll out a Pet Cat Sterilisation Support programme next year, to provide free sterilisation and microchipping for pet cats belonging to low-income households.
This follows a successful pilot Pet Cat Sterilisation Day that AVS held last month, where we sterilised and microchipped over 80 pet cats belonging to low-income households.
23 Thank you to everyone who came on board to support this effort, including the Cat Welfare Society, Singapore Veterinary Association, Temasek Polytechnic, MARS Petcare, and Dr Tan Hwa Luck.
TNRM Programme for Community Cats
24 The second key area of our proposed cat management framework involves our community cats.
25 Last month, we celebrated the fifth anniversary of the Trap-Neuter-Rehome/Release-Manage, or TNRM, programme for free-roaming dogs. As a next step, we intend to expand the TNRM programme to include community cats. This will allow us to better manage our community cat population holistically and in a humane and science-based manner, as we have done for our free-roaming dogs.
26 We will build on the existing Stray Cat Sterilisation Programme, or SCSP, under which AVS has been subsidising the sterilisation and microchipping of community cats since 2011. We plan to enhance funding support beyond sterilisation and microchipping, to include areas such as the trapping and boarding of community cats.
27 I would like to thank the community caregivers, vets, and animal welfare groups, who have been working closely with AVS on the SCSP. Together, we have sterilised an average of 4,000 cats annually for the past five years. We look forward to strengthening our partnership, to sustainably manage the community cat population under the planned TNRM programme for cats.
New Education and Outreach Efforts
28 Last but not least, our proposed framework will include new education and outreach efforts on responsible pet cat ownership and community cat caregiving. We hope to build a community that practices empathy, and care towards pet and community cats.
29 AVS plans to organise roadshows, community events, and school education programmes, to raise awareness on cat-related topics. We also intend to work with our partners to develop guidelines for responsible community cat caregiving.
30 These guidelines will serve as a helpful point of reference, to promote the health and welfare of community cats, reduce disamenities from irresponsible caregiving, and increase acceptance of community cats.
Second Public Survey on Proposed Cat Management Framework
31 Once again, I thank the many respondents for providing invaluable inputs to shape this cat management framework that we are sharing today. The proposed framework will be available for further inputs over the next two months, starting from today. We intend to implement the proposed framework in the later part of next year. This will not be a trivial task, considering the significant number of pet cats that will need to be licensed.
32 We are committed to providing a smooth transition for all cat owners, by optimising our systems and processes. And, we will continue to actively engage vets and animal welfare group partners on our plans to improve the management of community cats under TNRM. At the same time, we are preparing to ramp up our education and outreach efforts, to reach out to a broader segment of the community.
Conclusion
33 Work has started and I invite various stakeholder groups and members of the community to partner us to achieve a smooth implementation. I also look forward to working closely with all of you to raise standards for animal health and welfare, and we hope to receive your continued support.
34 Thank you, and I wish you an enjoyable Pets’ Day Out and a wonderful end of year!