Taipei's stray cats now have an association all their own which will look after their wellbeing in a metropolitan environment that can often be inhospitable.
Sara Choi, the founder of the association, told a press conference about the mistreatment she witnessed years ago that spurred her to form the group.
"I don't know how my neighbors had the heart to poison cats or get rid of kittens by tossing them off the 12th floor," the South Korean said.
PHOTO: ANGELICA OUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Choi, who first came to Taipei from South Korea as a student, soon began to take in strays she found at the market or in the streets close to her home.
She now works for an airline company and keeps 11 cats of her own in her 109m2 apartment.
"I realized that eventually my individual powers to make a difference would be limited and that is why we formed this association" Choi said.
"Our goal is to neuter 20 cats a month and adopt at least one," she said.
Choi says that Trap, Neuter and Release (TNR) is a more humane and sensible approach to controlling the population of stray cats in the city than euthanasia.
"Human beings are the ones making the city dirty by littering. This brings in the rats, followed by the cats," Choi said.
She added that the association captures strays, neuters them and assesses whether they are suitable for adoption.
"Some cats are too wild and not suitable to be house pets, so we put them back out there after we've neutered them," she said.
"Every city needs a certain population of cats or we'll be overrun by rats," she said.
At the association's inaugural meeting yesterday, a number of cat owners who have chosen to adopt unwanted cats rather than buy them from a pet store showed off their beloved felines.
"We did not want to support the cat breeding industry in Taiwan, as many of its players do not operate in an ethical manner," said Chiu Yu-te (
The association has yet to come up with an English name.
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