Cat Welfare Society volunteer's encounter with mercenary pay-per-catch cat trapper highlights AVA's challenges with strays

If you find community cats missing in your neighbourhood, this might be the reason why.

Zhangxin Zheng | May 26, 2017, 12:30 PM

If you see someone acting suspiciously and catching a stray cat with a net, you may suspect that he could well be the "Yishun cat killer".

Except that he's not. And is paid by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA).

In a Facebook post, a volunteer mediator from Cat Welfare Society (CWS), Cheng Tiong, wrote about his encounter with a cat trapper in the neighbourhood last Sunday (May 21), claiming that the welfare of stray animals is undermined by animal catchers which are only motivated by money.

The cat trapper, by the name of 'Ah Yao', claimed that he was called by AVA to catch a stray cat from a resident's house.

The man carried a net and carrier with him, but refused initially to reveal or verify that he was indeed activated by AVA. In fact, Cheng claimed that the man lied and said that he was engaged by a resident.

"I must bring the cat to AVA so that they will pay me..."

According to Cheng Tiong, the cat trapper refused to allow the CWS volunteer mediator to handle the case because he wanted to be paid for catching the cat.

The cat trapper said,

" I MUST BRING THE CAT TO AVA SO THAT THEY WILL PAY ME BECAUSE IF I DON'T, I WON'T GET PAID AND WHAT ABOUT MY TRANSPORT COST TO COME ALL THE WAY HERE? "

Cheng's post highlighted a valid point -- if there are successful trap-neuter-release (TNR) programmes and the presence of dedicated volunteers like Cheng, AVA should consider seriously whether to hire cat trappers who are motivated purely by money.

Moreover, Cheng claimed that the cat trapper was also not informed to work with volunteers from animal welfare groups like CWS.

If the cat trapper's concern is to be paid for catching cats, it is possible that he could simply catch any cat that matches the description provided to him so as to get paid.

Moreover, it would be a waste of resources to pay a cat trapper if AVA can work with the volunteers on the ground instead.

For the complete recount, here's the post:

Full post:

"The driver of this blue van bearing veh. no. GN9916S by the name Ah Yao is a commercial cat trapper engaged by AVA. He was activated by AVA to catch a stray cat that went into a resident's house. I told him that I am the CWS volunteer mediator here and to let me handle this case to which he replied " I MUST BRING THE CAT TO AVA SO THAT THEY WILL PAY ME BECAUSE IF I DON'T, I WON'T GET PAID AND WHAT ABOUT MY TRANSPORT COST TO COME ALL THE WAY HERE? " So I refused to back off until he finally called the AVA officer who activated him to whom I spoke to. After the phone conversation he left and I followed him until he drove his vehicle off. Its possible that he is responsible for some of our community cats going missing? Luckily I caught him in the act."

To avoid any misunderstanding let me explain in more detail what happened. I spotted this guy with a net and carrier and questioned him on his purpose here. He replied he is here to catch a cat that got into a resident's house. Then I asked him who asked him to do this to which he replied that it was the resident. Then I asked him to where will he take the cat to if he catches it to which he replied that he will send it to AVA. So I followed him to the unit where he searched and couldn't find any cat. So I told him that I'll handle this case since I am the mediator here. Only then did he reveal that AVA sent him and insisted that he must catch the cat in order to get paid. He added that he need the payment to cover his transport costs for coming here too. So I asked for the identity of the AVA staff who activated him and to speak with him but Ah Yao refused to co-operate and told me to call the AVA hotline instead. He continued searching and after failing to find the cat he finally called the AVA staff who activated him whom I spoke to. He left after that.

His mercenary and unethical attitude has raised important issues regarding how commercial cat trappers engaged by AVA operate which I have highlighted below

1. If his main concern is to get paid for catching cats then it could be possible that he could simply catch any cat that matches the description provided to him so as to get paid.

2. Since the purpose of all this is to resolve the complainant's issue then why is it that he must insist on bringing the cat to AVA in order to get paid when there is a resident mediator to handle the case? I am also the caregiver here and if he really caught the cat, then I would need to go to AVA to bail the cat out. Wouldn't that be a waste of resources both for AVA and me just so that Ah Yao gets his money?

3. Right after I approached him and asked him for his purpose here, why did he lie to me that a resident engaged him when it was actually AVA that sent him here? He only revealed that AVA sent him here when I told him to the case and that I will handle this case from here AFTER he had searched extensively and couldn't find the cat.

4. When I asked him for the identity of the AVA staff who sent him here and he refused to tell me and told me to call the AVA hotline instead.

In conclusion, there seem to be conflicts of interest between AVA and the cat trapper whom they engage. AVA's priority is to resolve the issue for the complainant but the priority of the cat trapper whom they engaged to resolve this very issue is to bring a cat to AVA to get paid. It is obvious that we have a loophole here that cat trappers engaged by AVA could exploit.

This is not the first time that one spotted the vehicle that the cat trapper is driving as someone commented that the vehicle of the same car plate number was spotted since 2014:

Screenshot of comment section from Cheng Tiong's post

 

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Top photo from Cheng Tiong's post

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