Thenuga Vijakumar

Since its inception, CWS has helped sterilise more than 45,000 community and pet cats. The woman leading the organisation’s various programmes is its president Thenuga Vijakumar, who, by day, manages stakeholders and new businesses as a manager at conglomerate Adani Global.

The success of CWS benefits more than the animals; it also impacts humans. “The ability to arrest population growth in a humane way ensures more resources for each cat,” she asserts. “What many don’t realise is that we are helping the community of caregivers and pet cat owners and through them, all the cats that they care for,” she says.

“We take empowering others very seriously,” Thenuga continues. “We do not simply step into a situation and resolve the problem. We engage and educate the public and stakeholders on the root causes of the issue and employ methodology that treats the cause, not just the visible symptoms. These stakeholders then take this knowledge and apply it to similar situations, allowing our work to multiply manifold. More people helping and chipping in is more lives helped.”

Thenuga is currently in the eighth year of her presidency at CWS. Culling has plummeted, but her work is far from done.
“I learnt that making in-roads to animal welfare and creating changes in mindset cannot be accomplished overnight or even in the short term. One has to constantly chip away at the issue to make change,” she says. “For the foreseeable future, I’m working towards the legalisation of pet cat ownership in HDBs, the legitimisation of responsible caregiving through a nationwide programme, and the mandatory implementation of humane management measures across Singapore.”