MANILA, Philippines – The Araneta Center, Inc and CARA Welfare Philippines joined forces for a trap/neuter/return (TNR) program for the stray cat population at the Center, starting with the “palengcats” in Farmers market.

The Araneta Center donated P25,000 for the program, which will also fund some of CARA’s expenses. Restaurateur Margarita Fores headed the contract signing held at the Dampa section of Farmer’s Market on Friday, May 4.

In an interview, Gem Faisan, head of the TNR program and board member of CARA said it solves at least two things.

“The projects hopes to solve two things – one is overpopulation of cats. We know that spay and neutering is the best solution to control the population fo cats. Second is of course we want to provide safety and health of both animals and the community. Like what we said before, the spay and neuter not only address the over population but also because the program is trap/neuter/vaccinate and return, we are also vaccinating the cats against rabies and that is affecting thecommunity and the cats,” she said.

Faisan said that aside from Farmers market, they are also targeting other public markets such as those in San Andres, Pasig, Nepa-Q, and Balintawak.

Margarita Fores, who belongs to the Araneta clan, said she is a cat lover herself. Fores said all of her cats are rescues whom she adopted.

“Everytime I come to the market and I see the cats around and I wonder you know if anybody takes care of them and it seems like there are many vendors who really look to the cats as part of their families. And so, i think it is a real great initiative to work with CARA, so that we can spay and neuter them and control the population as well.”

“I feel that when they are spayed and neutered,they are calmer and they don’t propagate and at the same time, they keep the rodents away.”

Fores said that the program shows that the Araneta Center welcomes even the pets of families who spend time in the center. 

The center has recently launched the PET PALS program, which introduced Araneta Center as a pet-friendly destination. Pet owners can bring their pets in selected stores as long as they have a PET PALS ID. – Rappler.com