While the national conversation about stray animals in Malaysia keeps cycling between outrage and blame, residents in condominiums across the Klang Valley have been running their own Trap-Neuter-Return programmes for years, spending their own money and time to manage stray populations without waiting for a policy change or a government directive.
A 15-year programme that management finally endorsed
As reported by SAYS, Ai Ling and Streisand, residents of Casa Kiara 1 in Mont Kiara, have been openly running a TNR programme in their condominium since 2011.Over that time, they have sterilised and rehomed more than 32 stray cats. For most of those years, they funded and managed the entire operation themselves, alongside a small group of residents who helped cover expenses.
In 2025, the condo’s management committee formally endorsed the initiative and published a notice informing all residents of the guidelines for managing strays, including a direct contact for Ai Ling and Streisand when a stray is spotted.
“This is a huge and positive change from the traditional management mentality of catching and culling strays elsewhere whenever complaints arise,” they told SAYS.
Management support changes what is possible
At The Fennel in Sentul, resident Tashny Sukumaran has been running a TNR programme in collaboration with the building manager, sterilising around 30 cats over the past three years, many of which have since been rehomed.
The building management’s involvement has made the day-to-day work significantly easier. When a stray is now spotted on the grounds, the management office sends a message to residents to first check whether the animal belongs to someone. This helps Tashny track sightings and set traps more efficiently. The management has also supported adoption efforts by allowing residents to display posters of building rescues on digital screens in the lift lobbies.
“Condominium management plays a hugely important role in grassroots TNR work. Oftentimes, management committees want to dump these animals, which is both cruel and counterproductive. The practical, common-sense solution is for management committees to work with and support rescuers and TNR practitioners in controlling the stray population sustainably,” she said.
It is already working in more places than people realise
A resident in Ampang shared that their condominium has been operating a TNR programme since 2013 with management knowledge and support, though it has not been formally endorsed, with designated feeding stations for community cats. Any unsterilised cat that appears on the grounds is trapped, sterilised, and returned. The management encourages residents to register their pets so they can be identified and assisted if they go missing. Similar programmes are running in condominiums across Bangsar South and Petaling Jaya, as well as communities around Damansara Heights and Bangsar, where residents’ associations are also involved in dog TNR.
“These places are around various parts of the Klang Valley and not necessarily in affluent areas, evidencing that TNR can be done by anyone anywhere, working within their respective budgets,” said Ai Ling and Streisand.
The vacuum effect
The argument for TNR over catch-and-cull is practical, not just compassionate. When animals are removed from an area, new ones move in to fill the vacuum, and the original problem restarts. Sterilised community cats hold territory that unsterilised strays cannot easily enter, which over time produces a stable and declining population rather than an endless cycle of removal and replacement. At the national level, this is the approach that animal welfare groups have consistently recommended and that the data consistently supports.
What the residents in these condominiums have demonstrated is that it does not require a national programme to begin. It requires a few people willing to do the work, and a management committee willing to get out of the way.
“It is our hope that our stories will encourage other communities, building managements, and institutions to adopt TNR,” said Ai Ling and Streisand.
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Read also: ‘I gave up my family to pursue my dreams’ Shares 34 YO M’sian woman – In Real Life
https://inreallife.my/i-gave-up-my-family-to-pursue-my-dreams-shares-34-yo-msian-woman/
‘I gave up my family to pursue my dreams’ Shares 34 YO M’sian woman
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