"Stray Cat Neutering Project, Prioritizing Accurate Population Assessment"

Seoul City Councilor Kim Kyung-young Criticizes Seoul's Stray Cat Neutering Project for Benefiting Only Trappers and Some Animal Hospitals... Calls for Accurate Population Assessment and Thorough Management for Coexistence with Stray Cats in Seoul

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Kim Kyung-young, a member of the Seoul Metropolitan Council's Health and Welfare Committee (Democratic Party of Korea, Seocho District 2nd Constituency), strongly criticized Seoul's Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program for stray cats during the administrative audit of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Citizen Health Bureau on the 13th. He pointed out the indiscriminate trapping by certain contractors and the concentration of neutering surgeries at specific animal hospitals, emphasizing that Seoul must clearly set project goals through proper population assessment.

The TNR program has been promoted since 2008 to control the population of stray cats and create a Seoul where people coexist with them. The structure involves providing subsidies to organizations or individuals who trap stray cats in autonomous districts and to animal hospitals that perform neutering surgeries on the trapped cats.

Assemblyman Kim stated, “From the project's inception, there was no consideration of an appropriate population size, leading some trapping contractors to indiscriminately capture stray cats, with some autonomous districts paying over 100 million won in rewards over three years.” He added, “In most autonomous districts, one animal hospital handles a large number of surgeries, raising doubts about whether proper surgeries and follow-up care are feasible.”

He continued, “So far, Seoul has not conducted any systematic post-operative management such as condition checks after neutering, administration of vaccines and painkillers, or implementation of protective measures,” criticizing, “Stray cats left unattended after surgery are being driven to death due to side effects.”

Assemblyman Kim urged, “This project should not just enrich certain trappers and animal hospitals,” and demanded, “Prepare specific countermeasures for planned trapping based on appropriate population assessment and for post-surgery management in the future.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.