Dear Sir,

We feel the article,  “Proliferation of stray cats worries Doha residents” (Gulf Times, July 11), was blown out of proportion and a response is necessary and sensible as well as to offer your readers advice, information and solutions.
I am writing to you from TNR Qatar, a volunteer group based in Doha which practises humane measures to manage the homeless cat population in the country.
 There is a simple solution to alert any cat who might have found its way into your car engine, be it to seek warmth in winter or a/c water and cool in summer. Just bang on your bonnet before turning on the ignition key!  It’s that easy.
The problem of mice and rats  far outweighs a few pad prints on a dusty car. Residents are far more likely to have their vehicles damaged by someone pranging you or bashing your car door at the supermarket.
The appalling littering committed by residents all over Doha negates any mess any animal may make - you have just to wade your way through the garbage on any fine beach in Qatar, where there are no cats on whom to lay blame, to identify that people litter most here.
What type of society are we becoming when we dispose, destroy and neglect the creatures that share our neighbourhoods? Hardly the envisioned society based firmly in science and knowledge.
The change must come from us.
Cats are firmly entrenched in the landscape of Qatar and it’s time to embrace their presence and manage their numbers, and their wellbeing in a socially responsible and humane manner.
Only TNR Qatar, a diverse volunteer powered feline advocacy and assistance group, and government veterinary services are constantly out in the streets of Doha, neutering the cats and stabilising the feline population.
TNR Qatar alone sets up shelters and feeding stations, discreetly supporting community cats with food, water and primary healthcare, giving them alternatives which they, as extremely clean tidy creatures, readily and joyfully use, rather than risk injury and illness from trying to nourish themselves and their sad little families from dirty garbage bins.
Other volunteer groups in the city are kept stretched to the maximum, over busy trying desperately to shelter abandoned and neglected pets, dealing with injury and cruelty of Doha’s unwanted animal population.
There simply is not enough help and no formal shelter or animal welfare group  like The Humane Society or the SPCA. Nor are there enforced laws and licences to stop breeding, importation and abandonment of domestic pets or exotic species.
Current cat disposal methods, employed by some residents, which include removal of cats to hostile environments, poisoning and culling them, are illegal, according to GCC Animal Legislation 2011 and are also totally ineffective, as more cats will come anyway, to fill the globally accepted and well documented ‘vacuum effect’.
It’s time to look at real solutions.  
TNR (Trap, Neuter and Return)  works - this is indicated by a piece of the cat’s ear being surgically snipped off whilst the animal is anaesthetised for neutering. TNR stabilises populations.
Cats are cleaner, healthier, happier and live in family colonies, keeping their territories clear of newcomers and naturally guarding their numbers, kitten free, till their numbers naturally decline.
A TNR volunteer, Carlotta Gelmetti, has had a kitten-free colony for six  years - there are many such success stories.
Give cats food, water and shelter, neuter them and accept that collectively, we are responsible for the type of society we build, we should look for effective, kind and caring solutions - whether you personally like cats or not, because ultimately when we initiate kindness and empathy in our communities, we all benefit.
Given Qatar’s geography and can-do attitude, the general kindness of people, a more responsible attitude of pet owners to neuter all their domestic pets and a ban on breeding, then with a positive plan in place, government, business and resident participation, the feline population can easily be controlled in a manner that will enhance the prosperity and happiness of life in Doha.
It’s time to join the movement for positive sustainable change. Complaining is futile, and worse, it’s plain mean-spirited.

Ann Roberts Young
Co- founder of TNR Qatar
Facebook: TNR Qatar