Hebe Haven Yacht Club Cats under Threat
 

For the last thirteen years there has been cat population in Hebe Haven Yacht Club.
During that time we have not seen any rats neither by day nor by night.
Recently there seems to have been one problem in thirteen years with some damage to upholstery of boat on the hardstanding, attributed to cats.

Member owning same boat seems to be pressurising club general committee to ""remove" all cats from Hebe Haven Yacht Club.

If Hebe Haven Yacht Club will destroy the resident cats, they will have a rat problem and so be forced to use rat poison in the restaurant and food storage . Some even small part of this poison will of course find its way into the restaurant food.


Many restaurants in Hong Kong have huge problem with rats and so lots of rat poison is set. Some of this rat poison ends up by one way or the other in the food that the restaurant customers eat. One observable effect of rat poison on humans and rats is deterioration of eyesight. Since I stopped eating in Hong Kong restaurants now eating only in Hebe Haven Yacht Club and at home I have noticed slow but steady improvement in my eyesight .

Don't blame staring at your display for your deteriorating eyesight. It is the warfarin!

Please write or email or phone Hebe Haven Yacht Club Commodore copied to General Committee asking them to see sense on this issue and save the cats.

So THAT'S why I now have to wear glasses!!?? D@mn you, Hong Kong restaurants and your rat poison!!! :O

Box

I can see the argument from both sides on this one but the cats are out of control, not only do they destroy the interiors of the boats if the owners are not careful with their covers, they tend to s*it all over the boats with covers on.

So whats worse hygienically, contending with the odd rat or pile of poo on your cover each time you go to use the boat..

I'd choose the cats over the rats any day, but, that's only if I can see them!

I concur with your sentiments but although Warfarin has several side effects, vision impairment is not one of them. Cheers, HD.

Believe me, cat poop is not a problem compared to your fuel and electrical lines chewed up and a nice rat family nesting inside your speedboat...

HHYC has had a TNR (trap-neuter-release) program implemented for the last year and a half, meaning that all the cats are neutered, microchipped and vaccinated. It keeps the colony numbers stable and healthy. If the club decided to "remove" (that's rubbish, what they mean is "exterminate") the cats, it would create a hole in the area, and in the matter of few weeks cats from all over Pak Sha Wan would descend on the empty area in much larger numbers. Then it's back to square one, with kittens everywhere (of which only about 10% survive), lot more cats etc. One of the conditions of this program is also is that the colony carers feed the cats to avoid scavenging and consequentially, disease.
This is the reason program has been implemented and the colony numbers have been stable with no increases of population. The program is active all over the world and it's been proven to work better than extermination.

The downside is, yes poop, but from my experience, rats and even mice do hell lot more of a damage that is harder to fix (think electric cables, fuel lines..). Also, once rats get to certain size, they push the cats out as they become too dangerous do deal with.
With pretty grotty boatsheds on both sides of the club, plus the Rat Alley restaurants and our own outdoor food storage area, the potential for rat infestation is tremendous.

I can live with few poops.

(Yes, we have cats)

Take the eco-friendly option of native snakes to control the rat population.

boat boys catch and eat them. lost at least 3 pythons to them already - that liveaboards have seen. i've seen one personally. sad, huh?

cobras would probably last longer, but i'm not sure all members would approve :E

Okay, Pussy wins again, I'll take back my comment as I too can tolerate a bit of cat poo over the rat issue, and incidentally, I havnt seen any rats at the club so the cats must be doing there job.

Just as a side comment though, this topic has had 1200 or so views since it's initial post.
Lets change the topic to "Hebe Haven needs more Pussy" and lets see how much support it gets then..

I'll have a word to the commodore to give my support in favour of saving the cats.

JY

HA! Politics of HHYC are beyond parliament.

When I was a kid the problem was rats. Hence a cost analysis into the viability of cats as rodent control and a large debate on the appropriation of funds for said pest control implementation.

Nice place though, a great escape. Has been since birth and hope to continue so.w

Just curious but what do those of the Jewish faith think of the club name? Sure, there are a number of definitions for Hebe but this wouldn't fly in Tel Aviv.

Last time I looked it was the Hebe Haven YACHT Club not the Hebe Haven CAT Club.
It is not acceptable that the cats are damaging members boats. Get rid of the cats. If the rats become a problem then deal with them.


Dear FR8R H8R,
Congratulations on twisting the thread around off topic to religion so soon.
This is the Fragrant Harbour forum not the Israeli Forum.

And I think the name came from an HMS HEBE as in discovering Hebe Haven, along with (HMS) Plover and (HMS) Starling Coves etc..I'm more than willing, of course, to stand corrected. Shall we scrap Nathan, Mody, Argylle and Granville Roads, and whilst we're at it lets change Aberdeen and Stanley back to their original local dialect names?..Perhaps we could invite our NAM cousins to rename (Lt) Puget Sound and (Capt) Vancouver Island. Back to the original subject, the feral cats (for that's what they are) have done some serious damage to several boat...even with covers fitted etc..urinating and ****ting inside, and scratching up fittings etc...get rid of them and deal with the rats professionally. ie warfarin...

Hebe.
Greek Goddess of Eternal Youth and Forgiveness. Married to Hercules I think.

Not sure if she was Jewish, probably not

If the cats stay then the Hebe committee must provide insurance for all vessels on the hardstand. It's probably a lot cheaper to remove the cats than to keep repairing members upholstery. It is a boating club after all and priority should be to the boats. If the Rats then become a problem then the club should deal with them too.

I read too many books on those days of but you are right. HMS Hebe (not a very successful class of ship) was one of the slowest Torpedo Gunboats (The Class gave way to HMS Speedy) She anchored for (dates disputed) to hold off a storm. I find it slightly ironic, a boat that was nothing but a disappointment in later parts of her career became namesake to HHYC.

Used to be a great place, and still is to a degree. If you put a $15000 ski boat on a hard stand and whinge about the rats then do something about it yourself people!

With the rates and complaints that flow through PPRUNE I think that some people need to understand both "over-captialisation" and "you get what you pay for".

Though enough of that - I reckon said subject belongs elsewhere.

The name Hebe Haven
 

Dear Brisdude, This year is the 50th Anniversary of HHYC, somehow I managed to allow myself to be appointed in charge of producing an anniversary book for the club (due at the publishers in a few weeks). Too many G&Ts I think! I wanted, therefore, to follow-up on the possible connection between Pak Sha Wan and HMS Hebe, with the English name for the bay perhaps going back to the fact that HMS Hebe sheltered in Pak Sha Wan during a typhoon....hence "Hebe Haven". I would really like to include this in the 50th Anniversary book. Could you please, therefore, let me know the original source (or any other historical references) that support this possible connection. It was also mentioned by "Jacobus" - so if you could contact me as well, that would be most appreciated.

Best Regards,
Tingwall

Cat,rat,cat,rat? Cat tastes better and is found in all top level HK restaurants.

Is a big rat the same as a small cat?:confused:

Hi Tingwall.


I would be very interested in getting a couple of copies of this book when it's available.


Could you tell me how and when I could purchase it ?


Many thanks.