Good job Housing Development Board (HDB) — first you want us to debark our dogs and now you’re enforcing rules against keeping cats in our flats.
In an official letter sent to a resident, a cat lover by the name of Nor Aisha is left devastated after being told to get rid of her three cats by Nov. 27 or be fined up to $4,000. She recounts the story on The Real Singapore.
The 30-year-old lady admits that she has been a cat owner since young, and in the five houses she’s lived in throughout the years, no complaints were ever lodged about her cats. Since moving in to a new house a couple of months back, she claims that her neighbours — which she says are Indian nationals — dislike cats and have thus complained to the HDB, prompting the official advisory.
An editor’s note on the article mention that local Singaporeans have always been tolerant of cat owners in flats, and if they don’t like cats coming into their house, attach make-shift grills at their gates to prevent that from happening.
Although it is a known ruling that HDB disallows residents to keep cats in flats, it is rare that they actually enforce it, because it’s even rarer that people complain about it. If they were really serious about the ruling, it’d probably create a mass exodus of felines, and thousands will be living on the streets.
In any case, it hasn’t been a good week for Singapore’s reputation in animal welfare. Earlier on Monday, images taken at Underwater World Singapore revealed that their animals were kept in inferior enclosures and a dolphin was even found suffering from skin cancer. On Tuesday, the Ministry of Home Affairs rejected calls to include more animals as part of the Road Traffic Act. On Wednesday, a cat was found severed in two pieces at Marine Crescent.
Photo: ssedro via Flickr; The Real Singapore
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Good job Housing Development Board (HDB) — first you want us to debark our dogs and now you’re enforcing rules against keeping cats in our flats.
In an official letter sent to a resident, a cat lover by the name of Nor Aisha is left devastated after being told to get rid of her three cats by Nov. 27 or be fined up to $4,000. She recounts the story on The Real Singapore.
The 30-year-old lady admits that she has been a cat owner since young, and in the five houses she’s lived in throughout the years, no complaints were ever lodged about her cats. Since moving in to a new house a couple of months back, she claims that her neighbours — which she says are Indian nationals — dislike cats and have thus complained to the HDB, prompting the official advisory.
An editor’s note on the article mention that local Singaporeans have always been tolerant of cat owners in flats, and if they don’t like cats coming into their house, attach make-shift grills at their gates to prevent that from happening.
Although it is a known ruling that HDB disallows residents to keep cats in flats, it is rare that they actually enforce it, because it’s even rarer that people complain about it. If they were really serious about the ruling, it’d probably create a mass exodus of felines, and thousands will be living on the streets.
In any case, it hasn’t been a good week for Singapore’s reputation in animal welfare. Earlier on Monday, images taken at Underwater World Singapore revealed that their animals were kept in inferior enclosures and a dolphin was even found suffering from skin cancer. On Tuesday, the Ministry of Home Affairs rejected calls to include more animals as part of the Road Traffic Act. On Wednesday, a cat was found severed in two pieces at Marine Crescent.
Photo: ssedro via Flickr; The Real Singapore
Read Also:
HDB apologetic over controversial 'debarking' advice, retracts notice
Apart from CANCER, dolphin's in good health: UWS spokesperson
Severed cat may not have been the work of human abuse: SPCA