Friday November 18, 2005

The newly launched street cat rehabilitation programme of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ (SPCA) took off last week with 14 cats adopted into good homes.

The Friends of Felix programme offers a chance for stray cats to be neutered, vaccinated and released back into the community.

All of these cats caught under the Felix programme will have 10mm of their left ears tagged to mark them as having been neutered.

The first 14 cats were let out on Saturday at a vacant piece of land in Jalan Mesra, Kuala Lumpur, that formerly housed a squatter colony.

A good Samaritan, Mark Harris, a British designer working in Malaysia, had reported to the SPCA of some 24 cats that were left behind by their owners there.

Harris feeding the abandoned cats at the former squatter colony. The launch of SPCA’s Friends of Felix programme saw 14 of these cats finding new homes.

Harris has been feeding the cats on his own for the past one month. He also paid for the cats’ adoption fees that amounted to RM70 each including their vaccination and neutering.

“The SPCA is very happy that out of 24 cats caught on the land, 14 have found good families who are willing to adopt them to give them a new start in life,” said SPCA animal inspector Sabrina Yeap.

“Three of the cats were kittens barely four months old. These cats are fortunate they do not have to grow up on the street.

“We hope the public will continue to support the Friends of Felix programme by informing us about places where they have sighted stray cats and by providing us with the funds to run the programme to re-house the felines.”

During the programme’s launch, an unidentified Singaporean national and a woman living in Shah Alam each offered RM2,000 to support the programme. The funds will go entirely towards the Felix programme.

“The Felix programme gives unwanted cats a chance to live. But the community must care for these animals. The animals have no voice to speak but they are living creatures and have needs just like humans,” said Yeap.

For more information on Friends of Felix, call the SPCA at 03-4256 5312 (Yeap or Stacia Leong).