Barely a year after the municipality staff employed at Lumpini Park set out to rid the facility's pond, alleys and lawns from monitor lizards, they are at it again.
Only this time, their hunt wasn't directed at four-legged reptiles but at another type of animal: the stray cats that populate the park.
Stray cats and dogs have been an ongoing issue in the capital city. According to figures from the Bureau of Disease Control and Veterinary Services under the Department of Livestock Development, last year Bangkok was home to almost 90,000 stray cats. And as there were over 470,000 stray cats across the country, help and various movements are often empowered to improve the livelihood of these street animals.
But what started off last month as a move to sterilise the cats at Lumpini Park -- the third largest public park in Bangkok -- ended on a sour note for park caretakers and authorities, when their decision to ban the animals from returning was reported.
This in turn sparked outrage among frequent visitors and cat lovers, who feed, photograph and pet the animals -- many of whom took to social media to voice their discontent.
One such web user, Bow, who administers the Facebook page "Cat Lumpini", said she felt disappointed and angered by the authorities' move.
While she agrees with the decision taken to sterilise the cats, the lack of a future plan struck her as unacceptable.
"Removing the cats without giving advance notice is bad enough, but doing so with no sheltering plans really is inadmissible," Bow said in a phone interview.
On Aug 19, the alarm was sounded on the "Cat Lumpini" page early in the morning. Reacting to users' comments on the page -- usually dedicated to posting photographs of cute feline encounters in the park -- visitors and concerned cat lovers found out that around 30 cats had been rounded up in the wee hours and transferred to the Department of Livestock Development in Don Muang.
While they felt reassured, it was only to be a temporary feeling, Bow added. Just as the Department of Livestock Development said the cats would return to the park soon enough, contradictory announcements surfaced.
"One side was saying that the cats would be returned to the park and the other that they were to stay in Don Muang -- despite not being welcome there."
This was enough for Bow and other Facebook users, who were concerned for the cats' future living conditions and their recovery. Instead of waiting for the authorities' to find a solution or risk seeing the animals being sent to a shelter, they decided to put the stray cats up for adoption through a social media platform.
"Had they told us of their plans beforehand, we could have stepped in and helped the cats from an earlier stage," she argued.
As people began to respond to social media posts and drove to Don Muang to adopt the cats, others were still baffled by the municipality's lack of thorough planning before it engaged in the chase to bring the park's cats to Don Muang.
Just like Bow, the Facebook page administrator, one dentist -- who has asked not to be named -- was appalled. Being a social media user herself, she regularly donates money for individuals to rescue stray cats.
"It's heart-warming to see people rushing to help these cats. But that should be the authorities' role," she said. "Instead, they took them away with no plans for relocating them."
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration's Department of Environment head Suwanna Jungroongrueng stated that "the park is not a zoo", justifying her decision to ban all animals from the area, including the stray cats, drawing the ire of cat lovers across the internet.
Stray cats don't harm anyone and their population can easily be controlled through sterilisation, the dentist added. She said the decision shows authorities' lack of will where management is concerned.
"Will they ban mosquitoes from the park next?" she asked.
Over the past years, the BMA has set up a tag system for people who wished to track their cats. However, the arrangement only targets domestic cats and doesn't extend to stray cats.
"The cats have been living in Lumpini Park for a long time and are autonomous enough," added Krithera Inpornvijit, a Bangkok resident and self-proclaimed cat lover.
Public parks around the world play host to squirrels, birds, ducks and cats living in a natural setting. "People aren't bothered by them, on the contrary, they find them to be charming," she said.
While the number of stray cats rises constantly, cats that are abandoned in parks have higher survival chances than those abandoned in temples or on the roadside. "Not that people should make it a habit," she argues. "It's an irresponsible thing, to abandon your animals."
Still, many people feel that the park authorities shouldn't abandon these cats once more.
