Wazzup Pilipinas!
Cats seems to be not as friendly as dogs, because we have half-a-dozen of them hanging around at our place yet they mostly sleep and only come to us when we bring out food for them. They literally made the front of our house their home. Itvstarted with just two, but now there's six of them. That's three generations of cats at our home.
It was sort of funny because, the other unit (we live at a bliss home) has dogs as pets. But they keep them inside their homes. While our cats remain outside because my wife is not so fond of them due to her asthma.
From what I have observed at our place, unlike dogs that are always excited to play with you, cats are more reserved with only one exception - one that would always come near me and rub her body on my legs everytime I'm out in the front of our house doing chores like hanging the newly-washed clothes to dry.
I could tell because we had pet dogs before when I was young. It was only when we transferred to a bliss home that we couldn't take care of a dog due to the small space. There's very little room (and no time since we are all out during the day - school for the kids and work for wifey and me) to have a pet dog that requires a lot of responsibility.
For the cats that moved in infront of us, they were just strays who decided to adopt themselves for us...that's because we don't drive them away.
They often try to go inside the house for reasons I am not sure yet. But we don't have rats at our home that they could chase. Maybe they are hunting for something else but I really don't think they're looking for food because they don't go to our kitchen
Without any doubt, I believe there are so many cat lovers out there that would even take the extra time to care and feed even the strays or homeless.
I've even seen other nationalities aside from Filipinos who make it part of their mission in life. They regularly drop by to feed them. And I witnessed this at Bonifacio Global City (BGC).
Thus, it is sad to learn that the cats who hang around there are missing and rumored to have been killed as part of a "pest control" movement by one of the hotels there identified as Shangri-La The Fort.
The hotel is being bashed not because of bad service or accommodations but of the possibility that they ended the lives of the missing cats.
Instead of finding an alternative home for these cats (who are said to be littering the areas with their poops) the cat lovers fear that they may have been mass slaughtered.
"This needs to be checked on by the media to open awareness that cats have rights and that they just cannot be treated like pests. Hope someone who lives near the area who cares for the missing cats take the time and effort to report personally to GMA, ABS-CBN, News 5, Tulfo Brothers etc. so that there can be justice"
So below is a statement from the group Cats of BGC (can be found on Facebook but is also under scrutiny for hearsays damaging to the group's cause) giving us an update of their search for the missing cats:
(UPDATE)
"Like what was reported, we met with the Shangri-La management in regards to the missing #CatsOfBGC yesterday. Of course, we were very touched by the outpouring love and support our missing Shang cats received from everyone, but we also knew that we at Cats of BGC shouldn't let our emotions get the best of us. Posting this update took longer than we wanted because we had to think of how we can remain compassionate not just for our cats, but for the humans involved as well. How else can our efforts to give our cats better lives come true, if we don't take steps towards harmony in the BGC community?
Yes we miss our cats and it is very heartbreaking for us to wander down the Shang area and feel like our day is incomplete because there are less cats to attend to during our regular routines. Yes, some of our cats (like adoptables Mandy & Belo but not as many as the estimate previously reported) were captured and sent to areas we are still currently verifying, while some that weren't captured have been hastily fostered by protective and caring hoomans.
And yes, we were personally outraged because we have been sacrificing a lot of our time, energy, resources, work-life balance, etc. just so we can keep doing our roles for the welfare of the Cats of BGC.
The good news is, moving forward, the Shangri-La management has offered to help us promote awareness for the adoption of our cats. Their willingness to lend a hand in our efforts to find homes for the cats is something we appreciate. Because the sad truth is, Shang's action is not something new. Friendly, fit and fixed cats in OTHER areas in BGC have been captured in the past as well (even before this page was created), without extending the assistance that the Shang management has promised us now.
As much as we feel dismayed for those past incidents, we'd rather not disclose those areas anymore, because we are hopeful that this recent incident can serve as a lesson to everyone, and finally stop the misconception that removing even the friendly, fit and fixed free-roamers can keep an area cat-free. (Nope, because as soon as those cats are eliminated, new ones, possibly ferals that can multiply and spread diseases, will claim the territory immediately).
We still believe that cats and hoomans can live harmoniously—and we can't accomplish that if we choose to go on the offensive against other hoomans, when we can just focus our efforts in our mission: to continue finding FURever homes for our fit, friendly and fixed felines.
While we are very grateful for the foster parents who immediately welcomed some of our Shang cats, we also know that they are not permanent solutions, since most of them already have their own furbabies they are attending to. We STILL need to find people who can adopt the Shang cats permanently, so they won't have go back to being homeless. Because even if Shangri-La has seen the error in their ways and offered their support in promoting our cats, it is very unfair for the Cats of BGC to be happy, healthy, BUT homeless—just like how they were in the Shang area. They need to find a place where they can be safe forever, especially now that we've also learned that another well-loved cat from a different BGC area had to be sent to the vet and is now being fostered, after a concerned guard noticed him collapsing & vomitting from a suspected poisoning.
Those are the sad realities of homeless cats, and not just in BGC per se. They can be sent for relocation, they can even be poisoned by anonymous cat haters...which is why we are choosing to focus on finding their FURever homes, and reminding everyone to #AdoptDontShop (our BGC cats may be puspins, but the recent incident is a proof of how many people love them. Please give them a chance!), and have #ResponsiblePetOwnership (besides spaying/neutering your cat, please don't dump them, especially in BGC where there are cats we are trying to get adopted. All our efforts will be useless if people keep adding more cats to be fed, fixed and to receive medical treatments.)"
"I normally do not post, but this time I have to break my silence. Just like all of you here, I am very frustrated about what happened to these Cats. Though please be aware that (as pointed out by one poster here) the Cats of BGC is not a formal organization. They are NOT paid to do what they are doing. They do what they are doing out of their sheer generosity and kindness to the Cats and to us Cat Lovers. Remember that they occasionally use their personal resources in taking care of the Cats. This being said, I appeal to all to refrain from making further malicious accusations that their group was paid-out or bribed by Shang."
Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.
What an interesting article! Much obliged for the information
ReplyDelete