Singapore fixes ferals

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1999:

SINGAPORE––Animal control
cat pickups fell 5% in the first year
after the Singapore Primary Production
Department began a neuter/return project
in 25 precincts under 11 town
councils, according to data PPD urban
animal management branch head
Madhavan Kannan recently shared with
Grace Ma of the Straits Times.
Formerly trying to catch and
kill any cat found at large, the PPD has
since August 1998 allowed volunteers
to vaccinate and neuter cats in supervised
colonies at their own expense.

The program started after a November
1997 survey discovered a ratio of about
one cat at large per household in a typical
suburban neighborhood, and found
that 80% of the residents had no objection
to the cats’ presence if they were
not breeding, fighting frequently, or
urinating to mark territory.
PPD cat pickups had already
dropped from 7,300 in 1993 to 6,344 in
1998. PPD dog pickups fell from 5,400
to 4,876 during the same years.
Owner-surrendered animals
go mainly to the privately funded
Singapore SPCA, whose numbers were
almost identical in 1993 and are reportedly
still parallel to those of the PPD.