Malaysia won't accept 2,000 stray cats rescued by animal lovers from ...

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Malaysia won't accept 2,000 stray cats rescued by animal lovers from

Singapore government cull

By SEAN YOONG

 

06/02/2003

Associated Press Newswires

Copyright 2003. The Associated Press. .

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysia will not accept some 2,000

stray cats from neighboring Singapore that animal rights activists have

rescued from being killed in a Singaporean cleanliness campaign aimed at

fighting SARS, officials said Monday.

 

The Animal Lovers League in Singapore last week said it planned to

send the strays it had saved to the Noah's Ark animal shelter in

Malaysia's southern Johor state, which is linked to Singapore by a

causeway.

But Raymond Wee, the shelter's founder, claimed the Singapore group

had not consulted him on the plan, which he stressed would overly burden

the shelter. Noah's Ark already has 320 cats and dogs in its care, he

said.

 

" We cannot accept any more stray cats, " Wee told The Associated

Press.

 

Johor Chief Minister Abdul Ghani Othman also rejected the plan.

 

" Why must we settle the problem of these stray cats? " Abdul Ghani was

quoted as saying by Malaysia's Berita Harian newspaper. " Johor is not

the place to cast off stray cats. We cannot accept the group's wish. "

 

Cathy Strong, president of the league, said that the group had

already run into problems getting export permits from the Singapore

government and was developing an alternative plan - building a cat

shelter next to an existing private kennel in an open area of Singapore.

 

The proposal was being submitted to Singapore veterinary authorities

for a shelter that could accommodate 2,000 to 3,000 cats, Strong said.

It would cost S$300,000 (US$173,000) and could be funded by private

donations.

 

" Everything is kind of straightened out, " Strong said.

 

There are an estimated 80,000 stray cats in Singapore, but the

government's current cleanliness campaign targets only those caught near

markets and other places that serve food.

 

The culling is part of a hygiene campaign launched in response to the

outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, officials say.

 

Singapore's Straits Times newspaper last week said the government is

killing about 45 cats a day in the campaign. Many opponents of the

killing have written letters to the newspaper.

 

Scientists in Hong Kong said recently they found coronaviruses -

believed to cause SARS - in civet cats, raccoon dogs and badgers.

 

However, civets are not true cats, but belong in the same family as

the genet, another small carnivore that is found in Africa.

 

The scientists believe the disease jumped from civets to people,

exploding into a worldwide crisis that has sickened more than 8,300

people and killed at least 768 worldwide, including 31 in Singapore.

 

Malaysia has been relatively less affected. The country has reported

five SARS infections, including two deaths. All the patients contracted

the disease during visits to mainland China or Hong Kong.

 

On Saturday, the World Health Organization removed Singapore from its

list of SARS-affected areas after a period of 20 consecutive days with

no new infections on the island.

 

----

 

On The Net:

 

Singapore Cat Welfare Society: www.catwelfare.org

 

Noah's Ark Lodge: www.noahsarklodge.com

 

 

 

Folder Name: Asia Conservation Cat

Relevance Score on Scale of 100: 87

 

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