Thursday, July 31, 2008

SOS!

From the desk of Mama Piggy:

* Clarification - it was the HDB that issued the letter and not the Town Council, my bad. The Town Council had redirected the complaint to the HDB. As KXBC pointed out in the comments section, it is the jurisdiction of the Housing Board.*

The HDB has just issued a letter to my mom - she has to remove all the kitties in the house by 12 August because someone had complained that she is keeping too many cats and that they smell.

My sister called up the HDB chap and asked him where does he want her to remove the cats to. His reply: SPCA. Hullo???

She asked him what were the exact reasons for not allowing cats in HDB flats. The chap gave the usual spiel - that cats ROAM and that they poop everywhere. Ha! All HDB officers should be schooled in Cat Behaviour 101.

My sister told him that her kitties are not allowed out of the house, so how would they ROAM? They certainly do not do their business everywhere! My sister even invited the HDB officer over to the flat to inspect and smell it for himself :)

The chap said he will get his supervisor to call my sister tomorrow. My sister told him she will go to the MP for help too. We will see how things work out.

Now, dear HDB officer (or any HDB / town council officer for that matter), I hope you realise that we are actually helping to keep cats off the streets. We sterilise the kitties, bring them for yearly immunisation jabs, and keep them strictly indoors. Pray tell how are they a nuisance and why must they be removed from under a responsible owner's care just because ONE single person complained about them?!

More importantly, why let the kitties be the innocent victims of a disagreement between neighbours?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Such cr@p never fails to make my blood boil. Any wonder why expats arrive at the conclusion Singaporeans are a bit dim?

Sweeping statements I know, but just look at how the Town Council "officer" quoted the oft-repeated statement? Cats ROAM and POOP EVERYWHERE??

Oooh, I am about to launch into some choice expletives. But I shall refrain myself.

The Letter B

Mary said...

Town council - do they handle complaint related to cats living in the HDB flats?

And if the TC officer accepts your sister invitation for a visit, do not reveal the actual (quantity-you know what i mean).

Singapore Community Cat said...

I have a friend who has a complaint to the TC from her below neighbour that the hair from her home cats flew into the flat. She invited the MP to her flat. The MP was intelligent and reasonable enough to waive off the unreasonable complaint. That was in Aljunied too, but many years ago.

Anonymous said...

Shucks ! Tis is bad . Try to 'hide' some of them so tat it doesn't look like your mum has tat many cats . Idiotic neighbour !

Randie

KXBC said...

TC takes care of things outside your house, eg corridor, void deck. HDB takes care of things inside your house.

Tell the TC that the complaint is out of his jurisdiction.

Anonymous said...

Never open the front door too long when you have such neighbours. Inviting TC officer to your house is inviting more problems to your kitties. Relocate all kitties at another place for 2 to 4 weeks. When they return, do it at the best time where there is few resident around. Midnite seems to be best.

Don;t ever open door to anyone. Not even TC or AVA. When you don;t open your door, they can;t do anything. Your neighbour will try again to evict your cats.

I was also furious that someone complaint that I actually knocked on each door on the same floor, the doors above my level and the doors below my level. I started saying "Hi, my name is .... I received a letter from TC ....(I showed them the letter) I was wondering if you were unhappy with me as my cats do not go out and there is no smell from my flat....
My cats are my family and .....and if you have a problem with it, talk to me otherwise my cats will be killed by the authorities...." Finally, the one who complaints avoided my eyes each time our path met. Just 4 units away from my door. I have never opened my front door ever since and no one has complaint yet.

Mandy

Anonymous said...

Garner support from neighbours. I know a lady who has a complaint against her for keeping a local dog in her HDB flats. She gathered signatures from her neighbours, went to see her MP and she got to keep the dog!
First TC must not accept every complaint without probing further. What is the evidence of cat mess?
TC officers are mostly useless employees!

Anonymous said...

In HDB, a rule is a rule. They don't listen to your reasons. It is pointless to talk sense to them. In the end, it is the kittie who suffer. When someone complaint, they write you a letter. When no one complaint, you are safe.

MP does not help. He is bounded by the rules from the government.

I would suggest talking to the neighbours near you and move the kitties to an alternate place till everything calms down. Like Mandy points out, when the kitties are back, don;t open the front door anymore.

katie

Anonymous said...

Mandy: "Finally, the one who complaints avoided my eyes each time our path met. Just 4 units away from my door. "


What f*cking coward, huh? Makes you wonder how come such wastes-of-space are allowed to get this far in life. Much less breed.

Talk of which, that could explain why there are so many evil spawn running about.

The Letter B

calsifer said...

Mama Piggy,
So sorry to hear about this. Having been in the same boat ourselves, we know just how awful an ordeal it can be.

This may help: I read that once a couple in the current PM's ward sought his help as they also received that dratted HDB letter. Seems like it was an unhappy neighbour miffed about their free-ranging kitties so he advised them to keep their cats indoors, and end of problem. I'll try to dig up the source if you want.

PS the HDB officer who came to inspect the flat also concurred there is no smell (the main point of the anonymous complaint, together with the whine about there being too many cats in the flat - how does that bother anyone??? I will never know), and the cats don't seem aggressive (they either ignored him or ran and hid). The part that really angered us was that all our immediate neighbours said they did not have a problem with our kitties, and have never smelled anything nor were they even aware of the number of cats we had just that we had cats, so quiet and unobtrusive the kitties were. Everybody were puzzled that there was a complaint at all. We were given 2 weeks to remove the cats. It was a mad scramble, but to be on the safe side, we moved the kitties into boarding for what felt like a long drawn-out 6 months before we deemed the coast clear enough to smuggle the kitties back. But the HDB officer never revisited to verify the slackers have been turned out nor where they ended up. Of course it doesn't bother HDB either that they could be abetting abandonment or cruelty in other forms.