Cat lovers shocked by culling campaign creatively skirt Singapore's ...

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Cat lovers shocked by culling campaign creatively skirt Singapore's

protest laws

By D'ARCY DORAN

 

06/09/2003

Associated Press Newswires

Copyright 2003. The Associated Press. .

 

SINGAPORE (AP) - Through memorial services, T-shirt campaigns and

running backward, cat lovers are finding ways around Singapore's strict

protest laws to express their anger at a government cat-culling

campaign.

 

Computer consultant Sandy Lim, 49, organized a memorial service over

the weekend because she felt the government had forgotten people's

feelings when it began a crackdown on stray cats on May 22 as part of a

hygiene campaign launched in response to SARS.

About 80 people gathered in a meeting room at a five-star hotel on

Sunday to mourn an estimated 700 cats exterminated by authorities, she

said. Many of the lawyers, engineers and executives present wept openly,

she added.

 

" When I said I wanted to hold the memorial, other animal rescue folks

told me 'You are being too emotional, the government will be offended, " '

Lim said.

 

In most countries, animal activists would take to the streets, but

not in Singapore where public protests are extremely rare. All

gatherings require a permit and speakers must seek police approval.

 

The cat culling is part of a general clean-up campaign following the

outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, which has killed 31

patients and infected a total of 206 people in the city-state. But

authorities aren't saying that cats are spreading the virus.

 

More than 80,000 stray cats roam the island of 4 million people, the

food and animal control agency estimates.

 

Animal activists say they fear laws used for years to limit

demonstrations by political opposition groups could now be used against

them if they make their opposition to the cat culling too public.

 

" In Singapore, people will not go into the streets because they're

afraid you would get the police (coming after you) and they would haul

you away, " Lim said.

 

Fitness instructor Balakrishnan Matchap, 34, ran backward up 43

stories in the annual National Vertical Marathon with whiskers painted

on his face and wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with " Cull Ignorance, Not

Cats! "

 

A coalition of animal rights groups have followed Balakrishnan's lead

and are selling a thousand T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan " Kill

Ignorance, Not Animals " for 10 Singapore dollars (US$5.80).

 

Some activists are rescuing strays by rounding them up at night and

caring for them until a home can be found.

 

 

 

Folder Name: Asia Conservation Cat

Relevance Score on Scale of 100: 95

 

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