The Macau Jockey Club, in collaboration with Anima Macau, hosted a cat adoption event yesterday, following the cancellation of plans to relocate nearly 100 stray cats from the racecourse to Zhuhai after significant public backlash.
The event’s primary focus was to find suitable homes for the remaining cats, with animal welfare at the forefront, amid ongoing concerns regarding the city’s stray animal policies.
Held at the former racecourse from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., the event allowed the public to adopt almost 30 cats, while 60 others had already been placed with animal protection organizations.
Anima announced the event on social media on Saturday evening, providing detailed instructions and requirements for potential adopters.
The Jockey Club’s original plan to move the cats to Zhuhai sparked widespread controversy, drawing criticism from former workers, volunteers, and the local community.
Isabel Cheang, a former employee who helped care for the cats, voiced serious concerns about the lack of transparency in the plan.
“There is absolutely no supervision. We are worried about them. They were reluctant to announce it until the end,” Cheang said in a TDM report. “So we had no choice but to tell the public about the matter. I cannot watch the cats die. In today’s transparent information age, the best way to address concerns is to be transparent, which stops rumors. However, they could not even do this. The more they cover up the matter, the more people will doubt them.”
Another former worker supported local adoption, stating, “Other former workers have sent photos to me saying they are looking for people to adopt cats at the Macau Jockey Club. It’s best that someone adopt the cats locally. There is too little protection for them if they are sent to the mainland.”
In response to the public outcry, the Jockey Club issued a statement confirming its collaboration with Anima to organize the adoption event. Anima’s executive president, Zoe Tang, had earlier expressed disappointment with the relocation plan, referring to it as “Greyhound Story 2.0” and advocating for a more humane approach.
“It’s very disappointing because it’s just like ‘Greyhound Story 2.0,’ you know,” Tang said in a TDM report. “We are trying to give it a chance because we have received a call from Miss Mary Yung, and she is willing to have a place to temporarily house the cats in her area first, and some organizations can help later to rehome them, either individually or in groups.”
Lawmaker Ron Lam described the situation as just the “tip of the iceberg” of a much larger issue, urging the government to adopt the trap-neuter-return (TNR) method instead of the current trap-neuter-adopt (TNA) practice.
“We have been stressing that the stray animal problem in Macau exists because the SAR government still does not have a comprehensive policy for it,” Lam said. “The TNA practice, which is currently implemented, does not help resolve the issue in the long run. It cannot effectively suppress the number of stray animals on the streets. Therefore, we always say that the government must adopt TNR. Adoption alone cannot solve the problem—it merely covers it up.”
The Jockey Club maintained that it had been working closely with the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) since the closure announcement, submitting monthly reports and ensuring the cats’ environment remained healthy.
However, previous adoption attempts had faced difficulties, with some cats struggling to adjust to home environments, leading to unsuccessful adoptions.
At yesterday’s event, prospective adopters were required to be over 18 years old and present valid identification documents, proof of address, and photos of their homes showing installed screens on windows. These precautions were put in place to ensure the cats’ safety and well-being. The IAM also set up a service counter to assist with the registration changes for adopted cats.
By the end of the day, IAM reported that 22 cats had already been adopted.
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