Pulau Ubin Stories Workshop, 3 Jul 2009, 7pm

I will be conducting a workshop suitable for nature guides and those of us who frequent Pulau Ubin and would like to share more of the island's history and geography with friends and family. This is not a talk but a workshop with activities that would help to enhance public communication. I am still hoping to invite some special guest speakers who are veterans on the island who would hopefully be able to share stories that even I don't know about!

Vacancies are limited. Only 10 spots left! Do register early to avoid being disappointed.

Date: 3 July 2009, Friday
Time: 7.00pm - 9.30pm
Venue: Civil Service College
31 North Buona Vista Road Singapore 275983

PLEASE REGISTER AT
http://is.gd/16XCb

SPEAKER
November Tan
November is a graduate student in the Department of Geography at NUS as well as an active nature guide on Pulau Ubin amongst others. 3 generations of her family traces their roots back to Pulau Ubin and she traces hers on Pulau Ubin Stories, a blog which archives the stories old and new on Pulau Ubin. She did her undergraduate honors thesis on "Saving Chek Jawa: Social Capital and Networks in Nature Conservation". She has also authored several heritage trails publications for the National Heritage Board. She currently coordinate workshops for nature guides at The Leafmonkey Workshop and writes at the Midnight Monkey Monitor.

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Cat's Night Out at Jurong Point!

The Cat Welfare Society is organizing an opportunity for Singapore to showcase our lovely domestic breeds! Unfortunately I don't have the honor of caring for any lovely feline of my own so I have instead been asked to be a judge at the Cat's Night Out!

They are looking for "Most Beautiful Domestic Cat" and "Most Popular Domestic Cat". Prizes include $300 worth of Jurong Point Shopping Vouchers, cat supplies from Pets Station and Fancy Feast products.

But I think the real prize is giving our "longkang" cats an opportunity to show Singaporeans how beautiful they are and what wonderful temperaments they have. Usually cat shows are for purebreds only and is more of a show of what better breeders and groomers or trainers the owners are. But often, these attitudes of "purebreds are the best" result in things like puppy mills, irresponsible breeders and more abandonment!

How about adopting a stray cat and giving him or her a home? Neutering your cats instead of breeding them. No "paper" or certifications does not make them any less beautiful or loveable. Especially once neutered, many of them are wonderful companions with great temperament.

Personally I just can't wait to get to meet everybody's cats! So bring your cats down to the Cat's Night Out!

Date: 20 June 2009
Venue: JP1 Centrestage
Time: 9 - 11pm

Click Here To Download The Application Form (Right-Click and Save As)

Fill up the form and email to info@catwelfare.org with a good picture of your cat!

See you there!

Why is the Leafmonkey one of the judges?
The Rambling Leafmonkey is the founder of an online cat photography connoisseur club on deviantart.com called Pussy Patrol. And mainly because she's crazy about cats and it's an open secret that she hopes to be a cat lady when she grows up. She claimed that she offered to be the emcee for the event but ended up being asked to be a judge as consolation. Unable to believe why she got asked, she bugged CWS day and night asking for them to confirm it and they probably figured they're stuck with a monkey for good. *grin* We think she bribed somebody with a lot of catnip.

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Cat Welfare Society at the Singapore Animal Welfare Symposium

Last month, I attended the Singapore Animal Welfare Symposium and reported from the venue LIVE via twitter. Today, friends at Cat Welfare Society got me to write a short 150-word report on the event for the CWS newsletter. Not the final draft as the editor will do some addition but thought I'll share it with everyone. If you're interested in reports of the proceedings, you can find them on twitter. Alas, the search tag that we have been using for SAWS has been removed. I will eventually get around to archiving them on the blog. Apologies for my tardiness.

Singapore Animal Welfare Symposium 2009
First Draft By November Tan

Co-organized and hosted by NUS Student’s Animal Welfare Group and ACRES, the second Singapore Animal Welfare Symposium was held on 16th May 2009 at NUS. The symposium was open to public and had 2 lively panel discussions on Wild Animals in Entertainment and Domestic Animal Welfare.

Cat Welfare Society (CWS) President Ang Li Tin was panelist on the Domestic Animal Welfare session along with Dr Leow Su Hua from Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), Letitia Chang (Action for Singapore Dogs) and Deirdre Moss (SPCA) with N. Sivasothi as moderator. CWS also took the opportunity to share our Trap-Neuter-Return-Manage (TNRM) program through a surprise presentation by Veron Lau. Despite calls to “make the cat auntie’s dream come true”, AVA plead helplessness. However they reveal that funds for TNRM are readily available as long as town councils are willing to participate. On the subject of cats in HDB flats, there was unfortunately a lack of representation by HDB at the symposium. The organizers promise that HDB will be invited for dialogue at next year’s symposium.

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Raffles Community Leaders Forum

You(th) Matter

View more OpenOffice presentations from November Tan.

Giving a short 10 minutes talk at the Raffles Community Leaders Forum along with Howard Shaw (SEC) and Wilson Ang (ECO) tomorrow at RI(JC). The organizers have invited me to just share a bit about what I do which was a tad vague. Since the talk is meant for youths wanting to make a difference, I thought I'll throw in some free lessons I picked up from 6 years of trial and error. Hopefully it'll help them get a nice firm head start. But at the end of the day, this is just a sharing of ideas and experiences.

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