The story of Ah Pek, Handsome & Robin

September 2, 2006 at 11:15 +08:0009 (News & Comments, Singapore)

This is the story of two cats, Ah Pek (not the blogger) and Handsome that lives at the ground floor of my apartment…and the heroic act of cat lover Robin “Hood” Chan and his gang of happy volunteers.

Ah Pek being the older of the two is the grey fella on the right and Handsome, like most youngsters, he likes his hair blonde & highlighted….

                                                                             Ah Pek & Handsome relaxing with some babes from the neighbourhood…

Ah Pek & Handsome are two lovely cuties… They brought much joy to me with their meowing in the morning when i leave for work and in the evening when i finish my day. These two fellas always greet me at the lift lobby even though i have no food to offer them. Patting their fur after a hard day work has this feel “GOOD” feeling that is both therapeutic and relaxing. On many occasions these two fellas hide below my car in the public carpark in the morning. Maybe it is the warm of the engine from the night before that give them comfort from the cold night. It has become a habit to look under the car on mornings when when i dont see them at the lift lobby… just in case.

Ah Pek & Handsome are our community cats. What is community cats, you may ask?

These are cats that roam freely in the neighbourhood but they are not stray. Like Ah Pek & Handsome, their home is the empty space called void deck below our apartment where we live. As 80% of people on this little dot live in public flats that prohibit cat keeping, cat lovers among this majority of the population only option is to keep them at the void deck.

                                                                             As a community cat, Ah Pek’s left ear was clipped too

Community cats can be recognised by their clipped ears. The community cats are usually neutered. I dont know how this come about but i suspect this is a compromise that some cat lovers societies had with the power to be for leaving the community cats alone.

Ah Pek is old and blind in one eye. He was taken away twice by the town council people for mercy killing because of his physical condition. On both occasions, Ah Pek was rescued from the executioner jab by his care taker. However, the recent news of Yio Chu Kang town council of culling ALL the community cats in their neighbourhoods is very unsettling for cat lovers of this little island. This is an act that is both mindless and cruel. There was a petition online to stop this barbaric act and i hope people out there will lend your support to these harmless “voiceless” creatures. Will activate the petition link HERE when i find it.

This is bad news for Ah Pek & Handsome people. What kind of hideous crime that the like of Ah Pek & Handsome had committed that they must be wiped out totally and entirely? Their only “crime” if you can call it one, is that they are mistaken by some goondus for the SARS bearing civets (which are from the RAT family, according to Robin). During the peak of the SARS period, the Ah Peks & Handsomes of these islands were killed at a rate of 200 per day and thanks to Robin group of volunteers, some lucky one were rescued. 150 of them to be exact. You can “adopt” one by dropping by Robin’s blog.

Come and join us at the MEOW (MEOW Encourage Owners Workgroup)….here. If cat patting is not your cup of tea, at least drop by to say ‘hello’ to the like of Cocka, Mother Superior , Leonard and other beautiful people here.

Latest update 2 Sept: According to Robin, the petition is a success and the culling had been called off.