Cats are often vulnerable to falling to their deaths from a height. That’s why owners are advised to mesh their windows to keep their pets safe.
Recently in Teck Whye, residents found an injured cat at the bottom of an HDB block, with many curious about how it ended up there.
Image of the cat has been censored in respect of the owner’s wishes. Source: Facebook
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) managed to rescue it, but it passed away shortly after.
A viral post then circulated on Facebook, accusing the owner of neglecting her pet and assaulting an independent cat rescuer.
Now the owner has stepped forward to defend her situation, alleging that the rescuer had been insensitive.
News of the tragedy first broke on social media when it was posted to Sayang Our Singapore’s Community Cats Facebook group. MS News also received a reader’s tip-off about it.
In response to queries, SPCA said they received an alert about a cat falling from height in Teck Whye.
They immediately deployed their Animal Rescue Officers, who managed to rescue the animal. Unfortunately, it passed away en route to a nearby clinic.
The remains were claimed by the owner’s family member the same day.
Such incidents occur four to five times a week, SPCA noted, with half dying from the impact of the fall. “These are just the reported cases, and we believe the number to be much higher,” they said.
As such, they’ve appealed to all pet owners to mesh their windows and secure their doors to ensure their pets’ safety.
MS News learnt that an independent cat rescuer approached the owners on the day of the incident.
The rescuer, who wished to be identified only as WS, told MS News that she learned of the incident and decided to head down and check the scene.
She managed to pinpoint the cat owner’s unit, noting that they had meshed their gate halfway, leaving the main door open. She deduced that this made the cat’s escape possible.
WS then visited the owners, showing them a picture of the cat and asking if it was theirs.
“After checking their premises, the owners admitted it was their pet. They looked confused about how it could have escaped,” she said.
WS informed them of the unmeshed gate. As she recorded their conversation, WS told the owners she would report the unit for negligence in looking after their pet.
She noted that the owner’s two daughters followed her down and asked her for her personal details, which she refused to provide.
She was then reportedly assaulted, causing her to sustain an abrasion on her knee.
Image courtesy of WS
WS said one of the girls also grabbed her handphone to delete the recording. In the ensuing scuffle, she threw the device on the tarmac, and the other girl called the police.
Two days after the incident, the owner, who declined to be named, confirmed with MS News that a cat rescuer had approached her family to ask about the tragedy “in a disrespectful manner”.
“She didn’t give us a minute to comprehend the situation. Instead, she immediately lashed out at us and harassed us with her words.”
The owner related that the rescuer began taking a video of her and her family, despite them telling her they were uncomfortable about it. She added that the rescuer said she would report them before leaving.
The situation escalated, as per the rescuer’s aforementioned account, and the owner said she had to call the police.
However, as she was still suffering from her recent loss, she decided not to pursue the matter in the end.
However, the owner’s ordeal did not end there. The tragedy had made the news, with comments pouring in, calling her out for being irresponsible.
“It is so inhumane and disrespectful,” she said after reading them.
Her plight worsened further when Facebook users exposed her relative who claimed the cat’s remains from SPCA.
Source: Facebook
“Where is the privacy protection?” the owner asked. “Who will be responsible for this harassment?”
She accepted her culpability in the incident by leaving the window unmeshed.
We love our cat so much, and we are learning from this. We will be meshing our windows, and we’re gathering the materials to do that.
However, the unnecessarily negative comments from netizens have dealt quite a blow to her family, on top of their recent tragedy.
“We wish that the public would stop reposting our cat’s photos, as our cat deserves to rest in peace,” she lamented.
Ultimately, the owner also hopes cat rescuers will improve their protocols regarding similar situations.
“It helps by taking a soft approach before jumping to conclusions and being insensitive,” she pointed out.
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Featured image adapted from Facebook.
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