Dealing with cats

The editorial on the disappearance of cats (November 29) hit the nail squarely on the head. What I consider very important is paragraph seven, for this is exactly what is happening. This is not the first time that the Environmental Landscapes Consortium has threatened people to shut up or else. A young lady at the Upper Barrakka was told by someone to stop offering cat food, tourists and Maltese citizens were told to stop feeding the cats but these actions were leaked internationally and the Ministry of Agriculture was bombarded with e-mails, so much so that the department had issued a statement stating that the government found no objection to flowers and cats living as neighbours. However the cats at the Barakka vanished.

Cats from Romeo Romano gardens have been poisoned en masse. Cats from Birkirkara Railway Station seem also to have been a target. Whether these cats have damaged some plants or not it is cruelty to animals to kill cats or transport them away from their environment. There is a cat population problem, yes. The answer is not by acting like the ELC and others but by seriously conducting a neutering programme for these stray cats.

In Italy, regione Marche, neighbouring local councils (say five) merged and set up modern sanctuaries for dogs and cats and handed them over to NGOs with an annual donation of about 10c per year per adult resident from every council. All stray dogs are rounded up and transferred to the sanctuary. Most cats are doctored and returned to their territory, only those that have been abandoned, are sick or injured are kept at the sanctuary mainly for rehoming. This could be done in Malta as well and the sooner the better.

By using the powerful tool of dialogue solutions will be discovered to please everybody. A case in point was the problem, or so it was called by the then catering manager of Crown Plaza Hotel in Sliema, of cats roaming the hotel grounds. The manager called the National Cat Society to discuss a solution. It was found that it was true that one per cent of the tourists hated cats and complained but 99 per cent either said they did not mind them or said they enjoyed their presence because they looked clean and healthy and well fed. The solution was that the NCS undertook to neuter as many as possible.

The hotel manager provided water and a place for the cats as a shelter and feeding grounds. This shelter is still being taken care of by volunteers and no further complaints were received from the hotel.

Here the NCS would like to thank the many local councils which understand the problem and always seek the advice of this society before acting. The NCS also observed with pleasure that the SPCA is no longer picking up cats even on request, for it now understands that cats are territorial animals and keep nature in balance. They, like the NCS, pick only sick, injured or abandoned individuals and this only after checking the facts.