“ The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. ”
― Mahatma Gandhi

[Mothership.sg] Community cat goes missing in Ayer Rajah, reappears 6km away in Clementi with brutal injuries & dies shortly after​

[@mothershiponearth] Community cat goes missing in Ayer Rajah, and reappears 6km away in Clementi with brutal injuries & dies shortly after ​

[STOMP Straits Times] Beloved community cat euthanised after it was allegedly abducted and found beaten up in Clementi

Another innocent and beloved community cat has died suddenly and mysteriously.

Mackie was a much-loved 12-13 year old comm cat at Ayer Rajah industrial area. 

Within a week after he went missing, he was found 5-6km away from his area with injuries so brutal and so severe, he was euthanised almost immediately. 

Who took Mackie away? Who and what caused his fatal injuries? Why and how did this happen?

Please will you join us in seeking justice for Mackie.

Mackie was the main attraction and local celebrity of his area ... everyone knew him and flocked to see him. He was so special, so sweet and so loved by so many for years ... just one encounter and he had you wrapped around his furry chubby paw. He loved his food, his space and most of all, he loved his people.

And oh how was he loved by his people!

By day, he had working adults queuing up to cuddle and feed him or simply just to hang with him. Somehow in just seconds he could brighten up their days, and help soothe their weary and stressful moments from work.

By night, he would claim the laps and feet of his nightly feeders, and keep them company on long, lonely nights of feeding comm and stray cats.

Ever so serious in his guarding duties, he would keep watch over everything ... from their personal property to their comfort breaks. The cutest self-appointed bodyguard ever!

Mackie brought people together through their common love for him. So adored that he earned countless different names from so many. But not anymore ...

Sadly, Mackie went missing and was last seen 19th January 2023 just before the long Chinese New Year weekend.

For weeks and weeks, his feeders and carers frantically searched and contacted everyone and anyone they could. Posters, social media posts; speaking to anyone they could find ... they tried everything. Even hours and hours of physically searching through various parks.

No one had relocated him.

No animal shelter had him.

No one had seen him.

A month later on 20th February 2023, Mackie's feeders finally received the dreaded visual confirmation that he had been the unidentified cat picked up at Clementi West and euthanised by SPCA on 25th January 2023, a week after he went missing.

Mackie's horrific last days were of great misery and immense pain.

He was found at a quiet void deck corner of an HDB block by kind residents who contacted SPCA. He had injuries so severe he had to be put down on the same day he was picked up for medical attention. He had multiple infected wounds all over his body, with over 70% infested with maggots. He was almost completely blind and frozen in a spot, unable to move. His injury-ridden body at very high risk of life-threatening sepsis.

Hearing about the extent of his injuries is heartbreaking, and then seeing the images of his last moments ... utterly gut-wrenching.

• Someone had secretly and wrongfully removed him 5-6km away from his only home he had ever known. 
• Someone had caused the brutal and near-fatal injuries that led to his death.
• Someone had deliberately left Mackie to die a slow painful death all alone.
• Someone had intentionally withheld necessary and timely medical care that might have saved his life.
• Someone, like many others before, had taken yet another innocent life.
• Someone, yet again, will get away with animal cruelty.

How can this be acceptable? 

We want answers. We want to find this someone and hold them accountable for their actions. Community and stray cats have every right to live and co-exist with us humans. They are loved, cared for and bring intangible joy and comfort to so many. They mean so much to so many people.

(image credit: Winnie Yeep Facebook)

We want to know what happened to our beloved Mackie.

• Why was he taken away?
• Why and how was he hurt?
• Was it animal abuse? Was he tortured?
• Was it a hit-and-run accident? 

So many questions. Yet no answers.

• We want cases like Mackie's to be taken seriously.
• We want much needed and proper support for and from the authorities to investigate Mackie's case.
• We want harsher laws and penalties for animal cruelty offences.
• We want the system of our fine first world nation of Singapore to actually be effective in preventing, deterring, investigating and prosecuting offences in animal cruelty. 

Most of all, we want justice for our beloved Mackie and all the other Mackies like him. Yet deep down, we are resigned to the impossibility of this given the current reality.

However, we cannot accept that Mackie's life and death does not matter. We cannot accept that this has become the norm in our society today. We cannot accept that Mackie, like so many other comm and stray cats, will become just another meaningless statistic. 

Mackie, and others before and after him, do not deserve this cruel and senseless end.

(source: Sayang our Singapore's Community Cats Facebook)

Please join us in this petition. Please support us with your signature. Please share this with your family and friends. Please help us make Mackie's death count for something today, tomorrow ... or in years to come. 

We choose hope, and hope that Mackie's story, together with so many others, will somehow make a difference ... some day.

Thank you very much for your time and support in joining with our voices to stand for up Mackie and his fellow community and stray cats - all voiceless, all innocent, all precious.

Many of Mackie's fellow cats currently seek shelter in numerous buildings and on properties in the Ayer Rajah area not friendly or sympathetic to their plight or situation, or open to humane ways of relocating them. Many more face real dangers and threats to their lives every single day. Disappearance of cats here is not a new thing. Often, feeders are verbally abused while feeding responsibly on the public walkways outside of these premises.

They need us to keep fighting for them. We will not give up.

(source: @mothershiponearth)

We have lodged the necessary reports with all the relevant authorities for Mackie's case. We do not know what results this will yield. We hope they will work to access and find the vital security CCTV footage around the areas he was last seen and found. We hope they hear our pleas to track and find the culprit... the one who caused Mackie's death.

[10th March 2023 update] 

• The authorities have already actively commenced investigations.
• A few witnesses shared Mackie also seen around the basketball court area Blk 73B @ JTC Launchpad before he went missing, near parking lots for motorcycles.

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Rest forever safely in peace and so much love ... our dearest Mackie/ Fat Larry/ Atok/ Spot/ Kiffie/ Mao Mao/ Stinky/ Ducky/ Fei Fei/ Niam Niam/ Konjo/ [and many, many more names...] ....we will never, ever forget you.

(image credit: @catsof71)

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Our deepest gratitude to all who ..

• support(ed), share(d) and donate(d) to promote this petition for Mackie
• joined in the tireless search for Mackie
• came forward as witnesses for Mackie 

We are appealing for more witnesses for information. Please contact us at ayerrajahcatslaves@gmail.com.

• 19th Jan 2023: Mackie last seen at Blk 73 and Blk 73B (near basketball court and motorcycle parking lots at JTC Lauchpad) Ayer Rajah Crescent.
• 21st-24th Jan 2023: Found at Blk 610 Clementi West St 1.

 

Thank you for all generous donations to the Change.org site to help promote the petition for Mackie. Mackie's feeders and carers have not been, and are not directly appealing for any donations to this site for the Ayer Rajah cats.

For any interest in kind support for the independent group of volunteer comm and stray cat feeders - in food and/or feeding, medical care, TNR efforts, rescue and rehoming efforts - of the late Mackie's fellow stray cats, please contact ayerrajahcatslaves@gmail.com.

Thank you.