meow2

a little introduction to the kitties:

silly girl she climbed up a little tree-like shrub and had trouble coming down

Royal as he looks, he has a fur so smooth like a prince!

Shes young, was unsure of her surroundings when she first came, and was initially bullied by other cats. I remember playing with her; throwing the crushed paper ball and letting her chase it about lol! She has since grown tho!

he was wary of me at first, but after awhile came meowing hesitantly towards me and from then onwards we're friends :)

total socialite! this girl loves attention and being petted. And she isn't afraid of dogs too!

this male scratched me once when he didn't like a certain petting position. But otherwise he can be a dear. i still call him naughty cat though haha

Meow Meow, Nong Rui, she has been around since i was in secondary school. The 'mascot' of Blk 1, passerbys sometimes pet her on their way home. She loves attention too and would sometimes bat my legs if i were to walk off! Oh she gently nips me too, sweet!

meow

After the rush and stress of typing, editing, proof-reading the UROPS report, I've finally completed it!

Looking back on my UROPS journey, it has certainly been a very challenging, yet fulfilling one. When I first started off, with ideas on how to go about doing it, it was the hardest part. Almost everyone, including those close to me, was either skeptical, critical, and for some, perhaps wondering why on earth would i want to study the scratchy screechy creatures of the night.

Someone told me 'you're going to create the idea yourself? Oh no, this may be bad unless you have a prof guidance. Do you know the scientific method very well?'

Someone told me 'why is there a need for this project when it has been well-studied in other countries? I'm just telling you that it might be okay for a UROPS but it might be feasible for an honours fyp.'

Some people screwed up their faces upon hearing that I was studying cats.

It did reach a breaking point, but i still went ahead anyway. Perhaps it was my dream to want to do something for the unprivileged strays, or that I have already made the first step, made me not give up. Well all my efforts have borne fruits so far.

I'm gonna continue to study cats (if a feasible idea forms) under the guidance of my supervisor who has been great, although tough at times, and has shared with me much knowledge on cats.

It was a scary, enriching, pleasant, fun experience doing this project. Scary because I first learnt how to deal with not so nice people; enriching because I learned more about myself and life; pleasant because well I made more catty friends; and fun because being a cat spy can be embarrassing yet funny at the same time.

I learnt that:

1. Nothing is impossible, if you dare to take the first step.

2. No matter what others tell you, the end result may not be like what they warned.

Social, Asocial, Antisocial

Cat Definitions

Social:
A social species is one whose members form “stable relationships”.
Only in recent years did scientists discover that the domestic cat (whether feral or house cat) had an established social hierarchy.

" Though its ancestors may have led asocial lives, the domestic cat has evolved into a far more sociable animal both in a feral and a household setting. "


Asocial:
Asocial animals live mostly solitary lives, but come together in groups for two reasons: breeding and raising their young. Domestic cats are considered to be asocial (Pets.ca)

Antisocial:
Antisocial animals are solitary, aggressive when mating, and spend a very short period of time in raising their young (Pets.ca)



Misc Notes:
Level of sociality can also depend on the personality of the cat
Natoli (1994) categorises cats in terms of their dependence on humans for tropic resources.

History of cat sterilisation programme

"Sterilisation is the most humane and effective mean of controlling the stray animal population. Since 1991, SPCA has been distributing free sterilisation vouchers to the public. This scheme enables people to have stray animals sterilised at participating veterinary clinics. The cost is borne by SPCA and currently a budget of more than S$4,800 per month is set aside for this service."

http://www.spca.org.sg/voucher.html

"In May 2003, the Agri-food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) halted the Stray Cat Rehabilitation Scheme,"

http://www.spca.org.sg/humanestray.html

"Since 1991, our voucher programme for stray-cat sterilisation has translated into thousands of cases of surgery on stray cats being sponsored by the SPCA. Over the years, our monthly budget has more than doubled."

"With the special rates granted to our organisation by participating veterinary clinics (whose kind assistance we are very grateful for), we are able to sponsor the cost of approximately 140 operations every month. We thank our donors whose funding has made this possible. "

http://www.wildsingapore.com/news/20070304/070309-1.htm

"When Cat Welfare Society first came into operation(1999), records showed that 13,000 community cats were put down every year. This equated to 35 cats killed every single day. We found that this could not be allowed to go on and joined the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in its effort to incentivise and encourage people to sterilise community cats.

We were also active in coordinating the sterilisation efforts of volunteers under the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA)'s sterilisation programme from 1998 to 2004, implemented after its study confirmed the benefits of sterilisation as an effective means of community cat population control."

http://www.catwelfare.org/aboutus

"In July last year, a local newspaper reported that culling costs for 2003 rose 20 per cent. That year, AVA cancelled its five-year-old Stray Cat Rehabilitation Scheme (SCRS), following the Sars scare.

Eighty per cent of readers surveyed objected to AVA’s annual $600,000 culling bill, and more than half felt funds should go to animal welfare groups to re-home or sterilise strays."

-Why animal welfare groups in Singapore can’t reach out to the authorities

"AVA had previously worked with animal welfare groups and town councils on a Stray Cat Rehabilitation Scheme to control the stray cat population through sterilisation and responsible management of the sterilised stray cats by volunteer caregivers.

The scheme was terminated in 2003 as there was no reduction in the number of strays or stray cat complaints.

In 2007, AVA and town councils agreed on a Stray Cat Sterilisation Programme. AVA would subsidise the cost of the sterilisation of stray cats if the caregivers of stray cats, town councils and the community in the respective precincts agreed to participate in the programme.

To date, we have not been approached by any town councils or caregivers."

-Scheme in place but no takers

http://singaporecommunitycats.blogspot.com/2010/07/ava-replies-scheme-in-place-but-no.html

so it seems that the sterilisation programme in Singapore is as such:

Since 1991, SPCA has been giving out free sterilisation vouchers for sterilisation of stray cats.

In 1998, AVA started the Stray Cat Rehabilitation Scheme, based on a study which showed its success. Under this scheme, both SPCA and CWS worked together with the AVA and town councils to sterilise stray cats.

In 2003, this scheme was terminated citing 'no reduction in the number of strays or stray cat complains', which contradicted its earlier study.

In 2007, AVA and town councils 'agreed on a Stray Cat Sterilisation Programme' where AVA would sponsor cost of sterilising stray cats in participating precincts. However, they have not yet been approached.

At the moment, it seems to me that animal welfare groups are working among themselves to tackle the stray problem.

Out came a moth

One day the little caterpillar became a full-fledged Tussock Moth! Cocoon stage lasted about 2 weeks. What remains of the cocoon:

It's a male!
Just when it emerged:
I left the cover of the container opened during the night and true enough, it was gone by the next day. All the best to finding a mate to my first full-grown caterpillar!

Tussock Moth

I received a pleasant new year's gift from my dad whom picked up a hairy caterpillar from the floor in one hdb estate and brought it home. It was so furrily cute that I decided to keep it and watch it grow.

I googled it and found out that this is the caterpillar of the Pale Tussock Moth (Calliteara pudibunda) which is in the Lymantriidae family. The distinctive feature of this caterpillar is the four tuffs of hair along its back. However be warned, for the hair projections can cause skin irritation upon contact. In fact, tussock moths have caused an outbreak of dermatitis in Singapore =O

Dad said that there was a bunch of shrubs filled with caterpillars, and indeed, when I went to see for myself, the Ixora javanica leaves were almost eaten bare. There were many cocoons however, which meant that my caterpillar was a late bloomer.

The caterpillars use the hairs on their back as camouflage; a little shelter they snuggle in whereas they complete their pupae stage.

Hope my caterpillar would grow up healthy and well!

Cats in moments

simply sweet

she's grooming, but she looks so silly doing that

royalty? he sure is.

Owl in Singapore

I spotted an owl at the canal near my house!

It was pretty late, close to 1.30am, when there came a screeching sound like "screeeet screet!" and a huge flapping of wings over the canal. I could see immediately that it was a pretty large bird and got really excited.


It was only when the bird stood still on a fence and swivelled its head around that i then realised that i was looking at an owl. Wow! My first sighting of an owl in Singapore!


I couldn't take a good close look as it flew away shortly after but my guess is that it's a Barn Owl (Tyto alba)

Apparently it's quite common in Singapore (since the 1980s) and have adapted quite well to urban environments, roosting and nesting in abandoned buildings as well as in trees.

I wished I could have gotten a camera shot of it!

Salmon notes

I must admit; I love eating raw salmon, dipped in light soya sauce. I was introduced to this delicacy about two years ago, and among all the raw fishes I've tasted, the salmon still appeals most to my taste buds.

But one of my resolutions for this year was: I've decided to reduce, or refrain, from eating salmon. Posters and news articles about declining salmon population, ethical eating etc has eaten into my guilt in this indulgent sin.

But it is indeed difficult to not even think about that dish you so wanted to try on again. After all, the last time you ate it was eeeeons ago. Try refraining a candy from Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory from a kid who's been there and you'd get what I meant.

However, are things really what they seem they are? While forgoing this time to dine at Sakae Sushi (where I know I'll eventually give into temptation of eating that salmon sushi), I decided to Google out some stuffs about the salmon industry. It all started when I surfed Sakae Sushi's website and found out that their salmon 'are air flown from Norway daily'.

One thing that surprised me was; there are farmed salmon and wild salmon available in the market. Since I felt that eating farmed salmon may have less of an impact on Nature's ecological balance, would consuming wild salmon have more impact? And how do we know our salmon is farmed or wild?

I couldn't give any definite answers to these questions; but I did found others:

1. There are different species of salmon available, mainly Atlantic Ocean species (only one) and Pacific Ocean species.

2. Wild salmon population is declining, but overfishing is not entirely to be blamed for it. Natural causes, diseases, other human created factors also play a part.

3. What is of utmost concern in sushi trade is the overfishing of bluefin tuna for sashimi.

4. Norway's supply of salmon are farmed salmon.

5. Concerns raised so far over Norway's supply of salmon is human health-related (for it is claimed that their salmon contains high levels of contaminants) than Nature-related.

So I guess it might be safe to eat salmon after all, only if i'm sure that the pinkish meat on my plate comes from farmed salmon. On another note, I'm gonna ensure that I will stay away from Bluefin tuna.