The Vila Real de Santo António City Council presented the Kahu program, an innovative animal welfare initiative that aims to control the wandering cat colonies in the county, through humanized practices of sterilization, shelter and supervised food.
According to the municipality, the project aims to respond to “a growing concern of the population, promoting the quality of life of animals, while ensuring public health, the balance of the urban ecosystem and the harmonious coexistence between people and animals”.
The name of the program was chosen by symbolism: “Kahu has Hawaiian origin and means guardian or caregiver – a symbolic designation for the role that the community and the municipality assume in this process: taking care of living beings that, although without owner, are part of the urban landscape and deserve protection and dignity”, stresses the City Council.
In the urban environment, the municipality recalls, the wandering cats form colonies that, when controlled and healthy, “play an essential role in natural control of pests, such as rats or cheap, contributing to respect for biodiversity and not representing sanitary risk.”
The municipal strategy is based on the CED method (capture – sterilization – return), provided for in Ordinance No. 146/2017, “a legal, ethical and effective procedure”. In this process, “cats are captured, sterilized, dewormed, identified with microchip and a small cut in the left ear (international sterilization visual signal) and returned to their place of origin.” From this moment, they are fed, monitored and protected by caregivers recognized by the municipality.
Each colony will be signaled and equipped with normalized shelters, acquired by the municipality and placed in protected places, “removed from public parks or environmental sensitive areas, ensuring that they do not interfere with the natural habitat of other species.”
These shelters include controlled feed points to “do not attract pests or compromise the health of public spaces.” The municipality stresses that food should only be done with dry feed and clean water, “the use of eating remains is prohibited.” The equipment will be accompanied by informative panels, with clear rules and an appeal to the civility of the population.
The municipality of Vila Real de Santo António also highlights that community involvement is an “essential piece” in the success of the Kahu program. During the preparation of the strategy, “it was attended by local caregivers, who contributed to the definition of best practices and solutions”.
There is currently an organized network of caregivers, responsible for watching over the colonies and shelters, “ensuring the daily surveillance and feeding of animals.”
The first shelters have already been installed in all parishes of the county, as a measure of “the visible beginning of this Municipal Animal Protection Policy and symbolizes cooperation between the municipality and the community in the defense of animal welfare”.
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