Mei vs Everyone
Beijing, China
A Cat Advocate Transforms a Community
Neighbors complain, the Community Committee calls the Property Manager, they poison the cats, and more cats arrive to take their place--that is the vicious circle that Mei stood in the middle of with her two feet planted firmly on the ground and her mind bent towards solving the problem in a real, lasting way. That was 10 years ago.
The power of one…
A former taxi driver, Mei knows Beijing and its people. What she didn’t know is that she would become a cat advocate for the colony in her 20 building high rise apartment community.
As an animal lover, it broke her heart to witness the death by poison cycle acted out on the community campus of her home. One of the highlights of her day was feeding the local homeless cats in the complex. For years she fed, spayed and neutered, and watched out for the stray animals in her community. Dogs, too...but that is another story.
Some were abandoned and some wandered in for the food. She got to know them and their varied personalities. She just couldn’t watch another round of death on her own doorstep.
Perfect to no one, acceptable to all.
She had to admit it. Each side of the problem had a valid point. People complaining of stray cats were doing so for understandable reasons like disease spread (rabies is a real concern in China), parasites, and uncontrolled breeding.
The Community Committee’s job was to listen to and act on resident complaints, The Property Management had a duty to provide a clean, safe environment for its residents and were instructed by the government to take care of the problem by culling the colony.
Mei knew she had to split the difference and go to the Community Committee to present her case as an alternative to the horrible solution they had now. So, she came up with a strategy that was perfect to no one, but acceptable to all.
Mind over matter
Negotiation set the pace of the meeting. Mei would agree to keep the population to 50, keep the area clean and the cats healthy, while the Community Committee agreed to give her a dedicated outdoor area to house and feed the cats and allow them to live there with no threat of poisoning. The Property Management agreed--one less thing for them to do.
She was so successful with this approach, she is offering her wisdom and experience to help other cat advocates in nearby neighborhoods create a harmonious state between government, people, and animals.
What’s her secret? Pet population control through spaying and neutering.
Never underestimate the power of a cat advocate.
Mei is one of our TNR100 Spay/Neuter Project Partners. She is so practical, wise and tough in her humanitarian approach. We've invited her to be on our project committee, to train and help other rescuers work with their community.
TNR100’s mission is to spay/neuter 100 animals a month in Beijing. This is one of the essential tools for animal rescuers to help end the suffering of homeless animals in China.
Our hope is that when people see that it is a beautiful thing to have people and animals living harmoniously, it will change their minds and help them become more compassionate towards all animals.
That's the ultimate goal of WOA's TNR 100 Project, community synergy, people helping animals, and animals helping people.
You can support rescuers like Mei through our TNR 100 Spay/Neuter Project by donating at woafoundation.org/donate