As Singapore prepares to lift cat ban in HDB flats, some say new rules don’t go far enough
- Singapore is preparing to do away with a ban on cats in Housing and Development Board flat blocks, introducing a ‘cat management framework’ instead
- It’s good news for cat owners. But some say the new regulations don’t go far enough – and are calling for compulsory sterilisation
Sunny prides herself on being a law-abiding Singaporean citizen, but for the last three years, she’s been hiding a feline fugitive called Mooncake.
“Cats are so much quieter than dogs. If they allow dogs, I don’t understand why not cats,” said 30-year-old Sunny, who works in marketing and asked to be identified only by her first name because she didn’t want to risk her cat being taken away.
Authorities rarely enforce the ban, which only applies to the high-rise Housing and Development Board (HDB) flat blocks where 80 per cent of 3.6 million Singaporeans live, and it has long been flouted by countless cat lovers.
The ban does, however, make things difficult: because they technically shouldn’t exist, HDB pet cats like Mooncake are not eligible for pet insurance. Lawmaker Louis Ng, who has campaigned to revoke the ban, said the regulation sometimes becomes leverage for warring neighbours.
“A lot of times, the cats are collateral when there’s neighbourly disputes,” he said. “The neighbour will just say: ‘Oh you’re keeping cats, I’ll go and alert [the authorities]’.”
Singapore’s ban on cats in HDB housing is yet another example of the city state’s infamously exacting rules-based culture, in which, for example, the sale and import of chewing gum remains banned.