TNR plan should be reconsidered, say animal welfare groups

Lawmaker Sulu Sou said the Municipal Affairs Bureau might reconsider its stand on the Trap, Neuter, Release (TNR) strategy for stray animals, which the bureau earlier refused to adopt.

Last Friday, six animal welfare groups and the Macau Clinical Veterinarian Association, accompanied by Sou, met with José Maria da Fonseca Tavares, president of the Municipal Affairs Bureau. Sou expressed his support for the TNR strategy.

At the meeting, the representatives of the groups urged the president to reconsider the TNR strategy.

The TNR strategy has three steps in controlling the multiplication of stray animals: these animals are trapped using non-invasive tactics, sent for neutering, and then released back into their neighborhood.

Currently, stray animals in Macau once caught by the bureau, will be sent to the kennel managed by the bureau. If they do not get adopted within a set period they will be euthanized.

Sou described the meeting as sincere. He also noted that he had observed a change of attitude in the bureau. “It isn’t a dead end,” said the lawmaker with regard to their willingness to change their strategy, adding that the bureau had shown a positive and open attitude. The bureau, according to Sou, did not outright refuse the strategy.

The groups planned to meet with the bureau again before the end of this year. The meeting will be about specific plans needed to facilitate the TNR strategy in Macau.

According to the explanation by the various animal welfare groups, the TNR strategy is effective in quantity control.

The lawmaker recalled that the strategy was adopted by the bureau’s predecessor, the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau, but was called off suddenly in 2015.

The animal welfare groups also pledged to do more work to introduce residents to the advantages of the strategy. AL