We’ve all seen endless cat videos and pictures of cute cats on social media. But beyond the fun, there are serious issues to do with the welfare of these feline creatures and one main message was the importance of sterilisation. To bring home this point to RP students, the Cat Welfare Society and Republic Polytechnic’s ‘Purrject Runaway’ team organised ‘Meow Con’.
“Meow Con’s primary objective is to raise awareness for Cat Welfare Society and its mission to sterilise cats. We also wanted to advocate students on the importance on sterilisation,” said Afiq Naqiuddin B Aris Fadillah, 18, Executive Committee member for the ‘Purrject Runaway’ team when asked about the purpose of the event.
Along with a kitty corner in which students could take photos and admire the cats, a henna, face painting and popcorn booth was also set up. All of these were naturally a big hit with students who came by.
Ms Nurul Ecah, 24, Project Manager of Cat Welfare Society added: “There are a lot of students who come by and genuinely ask what is the importance of sterilisation, they ask why the cats are here for adoption, what is the problem we face on a daily basis with cats.”
Nur Hasif bin Hasny , 18, a first year Mass Communication student learnt to appreciate these creatures better. “After school, I’m very tired but when I see a cat and I get very soft inside, I tend to forget about the stress. They play an important role in our community so we need to care for them responsibly,” he said.