Recently, Ms. Xu, a Shanghai citizen, reported through the background message of Jiefang Daily Shangguan News that wild cats in the ShangnanHuayuan Community of Pudong New Area gathered in groups, flowing everywhere during the day, screaming harshly late at night, and also produced a peculiar smell. Ms. Xu believes that the reason why there are many wild cats in the community is not unrelated to the dozens of wild cat houses built by cat lovers in the community.
The weather is getting hotter and the environmental problems caused by the gathering of wild cats and the disorderly feeding of wild cats in the community are becoming a hot spot for complaints on the 12345 citizen service hotline. If not handled well, feral cat chaos often turns into antagonism between cat-loving residents and other residents in the community. According to the reporter's understanding, the contradiction brought about by the wild cat in the Shangnan Garden has a long history and is quite typical. How to manage stray cats in the community? How should the contradiction of Shangnan Garden be resolved?
There are too many feral cats, is the cat house the main cause?
On June 10, the reporter went to the Shangnan Flower Garden located in Lane 257 and Lane 259 of Qihe Road in Pudong New Area. The whole community is about 60,000 square meters, with lush greenery and a pleasant environment.
△ Shelves used for feral cats to grind claws in the Shangnan Garden community.
After turning around the community, the reporter did find more than 10 cat houses of different shapes, most of which were located in the green belt, such as as 6 in a grass next to the central square of the community. Cat food bowls and sinks are placed in each cat house, and some cat houses also have words such as "Wandering is not easy, the hands are merciful" and so on. Under the 48th resident building, a shelf made of hemp rope was also placed for grinding the claws of stray cats, and the scratch marks on the surface of the hemp rope were obvious, and it seemed that wild cats often "patronized".
Ms. Zhang of Building 50 of Shangnan Flower Garden is one of the "cat lovers" in the mouths of residents in the community. On that day, she was placing a cat trap in the community. Fresh meat is placed in the cage, and after the feral cat is caught, she will send the feral cat to be neutered and marked with ear tags. She told reporters that this is the internationally popular "TNR" stray cat management method, that is, the three steps of arrest, sterilization and release. She showed reporters a stack of 56 invoices for recent sterilization of feral cats, saying that most of the female feral cats in the community had been sterilized. Some of the cat houses in the community were also purchased and placed by Ms. Zhang, and each cost hundreds of yuan.
△ Ms. Zhang is placing a cat trap.
Ms. Zhang's actions, in the eyes of some residents in the community, have become the "root cause" of the wild cat chaos: providing a cat house for stray cats and constant feeding has led to the flood of stray cats in the community. The claims of these residents are not without reason, if feeding is stopped and food sources are cut off, feral cats will naturally decrease.
In the face of accusations, cat lovers feel quite aggrieved. Ms. Zhang believes that the setting up of a cat house in the community is to give the wild cats a shelter and reduce the phenomenon of wild cats wandering everywhere; it can also be used as a fixed feeding point to concentrate on cleaning and avoid affecting the environmental health of the community. There is no necessary link between the cat house and the increase in the number of feral cats.
Since April this year, residents of Shangnan Huayuan Community have called "12345" dozens of times to complain. The reporter learned from the neighborhood committee where the Shangnan Garden is located that from April 7 to May 26, the neighborhood committee has organized the industry committee, resident representatives, property, public welfare organizations, legal aid, community police and urban management units to hold 7 stray cat management meetings, coordinate urban management and other control of stray cats, coordinate property cleaning and disinfection work, and at the same time, the neighborhood committee and the property have taken measures such as discouraging feeding wild cats. Since April, most of the stray cat houses have been demolished, and the number has dropped from more than 30 to more than 10 at the most.
Some residents insisted on feeding, and it was difficult to dissuade them
In Shangnan Garden, the number of wild cats has been reduced, and the secretary of the neighborhood committee Ma believes that after the rectification, the number of stray cats in the community has been controlled, and the treatment has been effective. However, in many communities in Shencheng, the wildcat chaos still faces many governance obstacles.
On June 10, a resident of the Century Spring Garden Community in Lane 123, Fuquan Road, Changning District, also called "12345" to reflect that there are many wild cats in the community, and people often feed cats everywhere, and the utensils containing cat food are littered everywhere, affecting the community environment. On June 16, the reporter saw in the community that the chaos reflected in the complaint did exist. In the green area of the community, empty cat cans and plastic plates discarded by cat lovers after feeding can be seen everywhere.
△ There are many wild cats in a green area in the community of Lane 123 of Fuquan Road.
A staff member of the Fuquan Road Neighborhood Committee said that there is indeed a wildcat chaos in the Century Spring Garden Community. Roughly arranged, there are nearly 20 wild cats in the community, and there are many owners of love cats, and the feeding phenomenon is prominent. The staff of the neighborhood committee has repeatedly advised the feeding residents, "If you like cats, please take them home and raise them, but do not feed them arbitrarily in the public environment of the community." However, some residents insist on feeding wild cats in the community on the grounds that "there is not enough space in the house".
Previously, neighborhood committee staff had removed the cat houses placed by residents, which triggered a fierce backlash from cat lovers. The staff of the neighborhood committee frankly said that the disorderly feeding can only be persuaded, but the results are limited.
△ Some residents place feeding bowls.
Similar "dissuasion difficulties" exist in many communities in the city. At the beginning of June, residents of Jurong Community in Lane 100, Haiphong Road, Jing'an District, complained that cat-loving residents in the community like to feed cat food and leftovers on the side of the road and at the entrance of the corridor, and the community is also prominently dirty and messy. On June 16, a cleaner in the community told reporters that near Building 5, Building 6, Building 9, Building 11, Building 19 and Building 25 of the community were feeding "hard-hit areas" and that "a pile of fish bones was just swept away in front of the door of Building 5 in the morning."
In front of Building 25, the reporter saw a pile of cat food directly sprinkled on the cement floor behind a car, with water poured into the empty canned box next to it, and two wild cats snoozing nearby. "This just sprinkled will not let sweep." After a while, the rain will be soaked, and the residents will complain again. "The cleaner was helpless.
Secretary Cai of the Jurongli Neighborhood Committee told reporters that the neighborhood committee has carried out propaganda and persuasion for feeding residents. However, "China has not yet issued laws and regulations related to stray cats, there is no compulsory restriction on feeding residents, and there is no policy to dispose of wild cats", so it can only require the property to strengthen cleaning inspections and arrange weekly inspections and rectification.
Turn feeders into "rulers"
When the reporter interviewed in Shangnan Garden, he had exchanges with Ms. Zhang, a cat lover. She believes that cat lovers do not intend to destroy the community environment, and they are only feeding out of love. But objectively, disorderly liking and feeding will lead to contradictions, and if the community responds roughly, it will lead to resentment and confrontation. If disorder can be turned into order, the problem can be solved.
Some attempts have been made in the Shangnan Garden residential area. The staff of the neighborhood committee sorted out the list of cat lovers in the community, and then set up a "stray cat management team", formulated team rules and regulations, and made arrangements for feeding, patrolling, maintaining environmental hygiene, and regular cleaning of cat nests at fixed points. For example, feeding is only given once a day in the evening, and if sporadic feeders are found, they can also be absorbed by autonomous teams to turn environmental disturbances into governance forces. At the same time, the "one cat, one card" policy will be implemented for stray cats and the inventory work will be done.
Due to the lack of funds, many communities have no way to control the feral cat population by neutering. Previously, the community of Lane 24, Lixi Road, Changning District, had turned to a stray animal rescue organization in Shencheng for residents' complaints about wild cats, hoping that the other party could arrest and sterilize the wild cats in the community. But volunteers at the group said the number of stray cats in the area was within the normal range and had not reached the level of flooding. Even if they go to the door to arrest and neuter, they still need to send the feral cat to the pet hospital for surgery, which still incurs costs. In this regard, Shangnan Garden intends to set up a project fund for the sterilization of wildcats.
In addition, while treating existing feral cats, it is even more necessary to take measures to prevent wildcats from adding "new members". Disorderly feeding is only one of the reasons why the number of feral cats is difficult to control, and many residents abandon their pet cats when they move is also the main reason for the increase in urban wildcats. A volunteer from a stray animal rescue organization believes that to prevent the number of feral cats from increasing, it is necessary for the administrators to pay attention to the residents' intention to abandon in time and find new owners for stray animals that have been abandoned.
In response to this, the Shangnan Garden residential area is also trying to incorporate abandoned pets into the community management. For residents with intention of abandonment, the residential area will intervene in advance to sterilize and release, while finding suitable adopters through the Network for adoption and signing an agreement.
△ Some wildcats in Shangnan Garden have found new owners through online means.
In recent years, the problem of feral cat disturbance in the community has become more and more prominent, and it has become a difficult point in the governance of the community. How to take into account the harmony between the community environment and ecology requires a better approach. It is worth looking forward to whether the attempt at Shangnan Garden will work.
The area is flooded with wildcats
Do you have any good ideas?
Source: Shangguan News