Cats and Cambodia

I make no secret of it I'm a huge lover of cats.  I probably miss my cats back home more than anyone else (sorry everyone but it's the truth).  There are a lot of stray cats in Singapore and as a consolation I've grown quite attached to those who have chosen to make their home near our condo. 

Generally the locals let them be and many even go out of their way to feed them so they get some form of regular food.  Sadly though there is also the regular rounding up and culling of strays.  Lately though with a recent blog post by the National Development Minister, Khaw Boon Wan stating that the current practice of culling cats needs to be reviewed.  Likewise the decision in the Chong Pang constituency, at least, that the cats will not be systematically rounded up and culled, or not the ones that have been spayed, it does seem that efforts to find alternate ways of handling this are beginning to be considered which as an animal lover I'm pleased about. 

One of the stray cats who lives near our condo

Therefore as a lover of cats when I came across an exhibition of photos taken both here in Singapore and other parts of the world I could not resist going along to have a look.  The exhibition is only on for the month of June and is being held in The Arts House, Old Parliament Lane just behind the Asian Civilisations Museum, even better it's free!  It's only a small exhibition highlighting the work of fifty photographers but if you love cute cat photos or just cute animals it is worth popping in if you are in the area.

Upstairs was another exhibition called, 'Children of Cambodia' which is focusing on raising awareness of the large number of children in Cambodia born with congenital heart disease.  The charity supports the Angkor Hospital for Children in Siem Reap but is hoping, through this exhibition, to raise funds not only for the ongoing work there but also to help fund the building of a cardiac centre in the hospital.  The exhibition itself included a number of photographs of the children who have successfully been treated as well as given a flavour of the life of these children through photography and a number of exhibits including a typical Cambodian house on stilts.  The exhibition, from their website, actually only looks to be on until the 12 June but again it is free and definitely worthy of a visit to see the great work being done.

To find out more about the Cats of the World exhibition or the many other events regularly held at The Arts Centre visit their website.

To find out more about the work of the charity Children of Cambodia visit their website.