ON Thursday, June 18, The Manila Times carried a wire story from Agence France-Presse (AFP) about the efforts of authorities in Jakarta, Indonesia, to accurately count and manage an exploding population of stray cats in that city. What caught our interest is that the situation in Indonesia’s capital is quite similar to that in Metro Manila and other major urban areas. We could, perhaps, learn something from our Indonesian neighbors about caring for a part of the urban environment, and by the same token, perhaps they could learn something from us.
As in Metro Manila, care for the stray cat population in Jakarta largely falls to volunteer groups, although the Jakarta city government did budget some 3.5 billion rupiah ($198,000, or about P11.9 million) for a sterilization program that provided for the spaying or neutering of about 21,000 cats — out of an estimated population of 1.5 million — last year. The thinking behind this approach is the same as it is here among the community organizations: If the “community cats” are spayed or neutered and given vaccinations and basic health care, they become interesting and useful parts of the urban landscape, controlling pests such as mice and rats, and otherwise brightening up neighborhoods with their presence. Making sure they are spayed or neutered prevents the stray cat population from proliferating, while the procedure tends to make the animals more docile and “people-friendly.”
Around Metro Manila, there are dozens of volunteer groups which care for community cats, and some of these feline populations have actually become famous as a result, such as the well-known cats that inhabit the Ayala Triangle in Makati, or the four-legged habitués of Bonifacio High Street in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. Just about every developed neighborhood, large commercial complex, school campus or institutional complex has such a population of tended felines, and it is a credit to the caring nature of our people that it is so.
The phenomenon of people tending to neighborhood cat populations has several critical social benefits. First, because the stray animals’ basic health is taken care of, the incidence of rabies and other infectious diseases is profoundly reduced. Second, as cats are territorial and will remain in areas where they have steady supplies of healthy food and feel safe, they will stay where they are found, adding an attractive and calming factor for human visitors. Third, cats are, despite their relatively small size, incredibly efficient predators. Rats, mice and even cockroaches will not long survive in an area where there are cats.
In other countries, stray cat populations are revered, and have even become tourist attractions. In Jakarta, according to the AFP story, the respected Islamic scholar Nur Achmad declared the cats “loved by the Prophet Muhammad,” which is not an insignificant opinion in that majority Muslim country. In Turkey, particularly in the city of Istanbul, stray cats are adored and considered harbingers of good fortune. In Japan, at least two entire islands, Tajiroshima in the north and Aoshima in the south, are famous for having become “cat islands,” and are popular tourist destinations for domestic and foreign visitors alike.
That brings us to a rather disturbing and unfortunate development that happened recently with one of Metro Manila’s cat colonies, the Rockwell area of Makati, specifically around the law school campus of Ateneo de Manila University. Until June 4, the local cat population was cared for by a group called “Cats of Rockwell,” using a feeding station and “safe space” in a corner of the law school premises. However, an incident involving a student who reportedly ran over one of the cats changed all that; the student was subjected to online criticism and bullying for his evident callousness, and complained to the Ateneo law school administration. The Ateneo administration decided that the cats, and not the careless student, were the problem, and so ordered the Cats of Rockwell group and their four-legged charges to vacate the law school property by June 18.
Given that all of this happened at about the same time as the tragic drowning deaths of two Ateneo de Manila basketball team members on June 8, the otherwise unrelated controversy with the stray cats did absolutely nothing to improve the image of the university. The group managing the cats has done their best to comply, and to find good homes for many of the animals, but the bitterness remains.
As it should. The manner in which we care for God’s lesser creatures, especially those that have been human companions for thousands of years, is a reflection of our compassion and care for our fellow man.
