Minutes of the Meeting

of the World Cat Congress

Dortmund, Germany
2nd April, 2007

  • Present:
    • Ms Pam Delabar (President of CFA, President of WCC and in the chair)
    • Mr Eric Reijers General Secretary of FIFe and Vice-President of WCC)
    • Mrs Penelope Bydlinski (WCC Secretary/Treasurer)
    • Mr Kaai du Plessis (President of SACC)
    • Mrs Ortrun Wagner (Delegate of WCF)
    • Mr Albie Jobson (NZCF Vice-Chairman)
    • Mrs Betty Shingleton (Chairman of GCCF)
    • Mrs Lesley Morgan Blythe (International Liaison Officer of ACF Inc.)
    • Mrs Cheryle U’Ren (Vice-President of CCC of A)
    • Mrs Key DeVilbiss (President of TICA)

1. The President opened the meeting at 9.05 and welcomed those present.

 

2. Delegates of all member organisations were present.

The FIFe delegate, Mr Reijers proposed that the meeting be open except for certain sensitive items, this was seconded by Mrs Morgan Blythe and carried unanimously.

 

3. Breaks for morning coffee, lunch and afternoon tea/coffee were established.

 

4. Approval of the Minutes of the 2006 Meeting. Mrs Morgan Blythe moved their acceptance with the amendment put forward by ACF, seconded by Mr Reijers and carried unanimously.

The Secretary felt that the amendment should have been made earlier when the Minutes were originally sent out.

Mr Reijers raised the FIFe’s objection to two sets of Rules. He felt that the Charter should be made into an historical document and that only the Constitution should be used.  This situation would need to be resolved in the future.

 

5. Business Arising from the Minutes of 2006.

e) The role of the President as a Delegate

This matter was dealt with first. The matter had been resolved since each member sent its own delegate and if that delegate was also elected to office, the delegate would serve in the office for the duration of his term. In the past there had always been a delegate for each member as well as the President, but this was not always practical. Mr Reijers moved that Ms Delabar would sit as delegate and President and this was seconded by Mr Jobson and accepted unanimously with an abstention from Ms Delabar. Ms Delabar also pointed out that each member had the right to name its own delegate.

 

a) Registration of WCC. The President reported that this would be incorporation, not registration. The CFA lawyers were working on this in the States. She spoke about insurance for the officers of WCC. Mr Reijers said that the FIFe board were not happy about the registration or incorporation in the United States. The advantages of obtaining tax relief were discussed and the President said that the CFA lawyer would send full information to everybody. Mrs DeVilbiss raised a point about the place of residence of the organisation and Mrs U’Ren suggested that a public office be nominated for this purpose. With regard to liability it was said that WCC itself would be the legal entity. Mr Reijers asked for this matter to be raised again later. He felt that WCC needed to define itself first.

 

b) Code of Ethics. The President apologised for the delay on this point. She had brought samples of Codes of Ethics for distribution. Mrs Shingleton had brought the GCCF code of ethics and distributed this to the delegates. She explained that this had been in place for many years and she thought that the Disciplinary side could be useful.

Mrs Shingleton also raised the issue of cats being sold in pet shops; this was a recommendation rather than a rule.

Mr Jobson explained that in New Zealand the legal situation precluded implementation of such a rule.

Mrs Lesley Morgan Blythe quoted the code of ethics of the Feline Control Council of Western Australia which outlaws sales by breeders to agents or to overseas pet shops.

Mrs U’Ren also pointed out that there is government legislation and there are registered pet shops in Western Australia.

Mr Reijers said that the sale of cats and some other animals in pet shops was forbidden in various European countries. The agents or animal brokers were not part of any organisation.

Each organisation had its own code of ethics, either as a separate document or contained in its rules and regulations and the President felt it important that major infractions should be shared amongst the members. It was also suggested that any future members should be required to have a code of ethics which would include at least the common minimum requirements. Each organisation was asked to forward its Code of Ethics to the WCC Secretary.

 

c) Disaster Relief Group. The President told the meeting that new things were coming out on Disaster Relief. There had been lawsuits in the USA following on disaster relief. She said that each organisation should look at the needs of their own members and should make people aware of what could be done in the event of such an emergency. Whilst she realised that the USA and Australia were likely to have more natural disasters, there were also man-made ones, A new publication would be coming out but she referred to the CFA web site where details on Disaster Relief were available.

 

d) Policy Statement on Animals in Asia.

This subject had been discussed also in previous years. Mr Jobson said how shocked he had been to see in a UK newspaper a picture of crates of cats being shipped to Asia. He felt that WCC should play a part against this perceived cruelty.

Mrs U’Ren spoke about exports from the West Coast of Australia to Asia. The animals were inspected, in pairs in suitable boxes, by vets before being shipped but the conditions of shipping were not correct, many more kittens being added to the carry cages. Mrs DeVilbiss said that there were restrictions in the United States. It was then pointed out that although there were rules also in Australia, in practice these rules were not applied.

Mr Reijers said that he was in sympathy with the need to improve the situation, but he did not feel that a letter from the WCC would be very effective. He thought the situation in Australia was internal to that country and not something within the remit of the WCC.

Mr Duplessis asked what the Australians themselves were doing about this trade to Asia and was told that any members selling cats in this way were disciplined, however this ultimately meant that they simply went underground. Mrs U’Ren repeated that the existing rules on shipping animals were not being applied and Mrs Morgan Blythe felt that a letter from WCC to the appropriate Government department was needed to back up ACF and CCCA in their endeavours.

Mrs Morgan Blythe asked that CFA, TICA and FIFe might enlist their local S. E. Asian members to assist in identification of source of pet shop cats and kittens. Ms DelaBar referred to CFA’s trained ‘seizure’ personnel and she would not put untrained members at risk by asking them to act. Mr Reijers also said that it would not be correct for FIFe to ask its members to get involved in this.

It was then decided that a letter to this effect would be drafted at the meeting and sent to the Australian government department thereafter.

Mr Jobson felt very strongly that WCC should be in the forefront of any action to promote animal welfare.

This gave rise to the President asking all the delegates to make a list of what they saw as the place of WCC in five years time.

The results of this exercise were principally as follows:

The WCC members would be working together and the concept of WCC would be promoted.
There would be communication between the members regarding any problems.
Legislation was an emerging problem and the members needed to help each other.
International quarantine conditions should be addressed.
The WCC would be a high-profile organisation with standards.
There would be standardisation amongst the members regarding new breeds.
The WCC would be prepared to compromise; to amend policies in the name of consistency
WCC would have links to the major cat protection societies.
WCC would mean something to the average club member.
Welfare issues would be addressed.
Consistency of Standards would be important.
International protocols with accepted policies on health issues would be in place.
WCC would promote breeding programmes for new breeds and protect established breeds.
The WCC would have helped raise the image of pedigree cats through welfare.
The pedigree cat would be promoted through publicity etc.
The level of pedigree cats – and all cats – would be raised by putting them in the public’s view.

With regard to the quarantine issue, it was pointed out that there was not only the cost to be considered but also the health of those animals in quarantine. There was a need to educate the governments to keep with modern veterinary science. In certain states in the USA it has been proved that the efficacy of the rabies vaccine is for three, instead of one years duration. Vaccination can give rise to other conditions such as Carcinoma.

In order to protect the pedigree breeds a diverse gene pool was essential; there was concern that the breeds were being endangered by quarantine restrictions.

This led to a discussion on the protocols for vaccination which vary from country to country and the President said that it would be interesting to have information on the various protocols although it would always have to be updated as things changed.

Mr Reijers moved that such vaccination protocols be sent to the Secretary, this was seconded by Mrs U’Ren and unanimously agreed.

 

6. Financial Matters

A financial statement had been supplied to the delegates as well as a report. Mrs DeVilbiss moved to accept this and was seconded by Mr Jobson and unanimously agreed.

As the Royal Canin sponsorship was nearing its end, Ms Delabar agreed to get in touch with them for further sponsorship.

It was agreed that the webmaster would be asked to look at the possibilities for paying the annual dues on site to avoid the costs of bank transfers.

It was agreed that it should be included in the Constitution that the expenses of the three Officers of WCC to attend the annual meeting would be paid by the WCC.

 

7. Members Reports

Each delegate submitted a report of his organisation and, in the case of those presented in writing, these are attached to the Minutes as Appendices.

 

CCCA – Appendix 2

 

ACF – Appendix 3

 

CFA – Ms DelaBar reported that there had been a big demand in the disaster relief work in which CFA was very active. CFA was also marketing various items such as cat toys all of which bore the logo of CFA. She presented the delegates with a samples of these toys. She explained that the aim was to bring the recognition and value of the pedigree cat to the same level in the perception of the general public as that of the pedigree dog.

 

FIFe – Mr Reijers reported that the past FIFe World Show had taken place in Maastricht, in the Netherlands. It had been massive with over 1400 cats. At the General Assembly in Rome in May 2006, FIFe had accepted three new Members. these were in Cyprus, Malta and Bulgaria. New members in Poland, Romania and Colombia had also been accepted under patronage. At the same meeting two new breeds, the Don Sphynx and the Peterbald. had been accepted for preliminary recognition.

 

The meeting adjourned for lunch at 12.35 and re-convened at 14.25.

 

GCCF – Mrs Shingleton commented that it had been their first year of membership. Their registrations had remained constant despite a drop in the Persian registry which had been offset by a rise in the British registry. Membership numbers were difficult to estimate. The Sphynx had been recognised. The Supreme Show had had 1500 exhibits and the overall BIS had been a Devon Rex. In June there would be a change of officers.

 

NZCF – Mr Jobson reported that there had been a growth in membership, but they needed young members. Website enhancements are in progress and services to members and breeders wishing to register on-line should be completed very soon. Their National would be held in June.

 

SACC - Mr Duplessis reported that their Cat of the Year show had been a huge success. The Sphynx breeders had applied to use American Shorthair in their breeding progamme. They had established a Standard of Points for domestic pets. There would be a change of management in October.

 

TICA – Mrs DeVilbiss reported that for the first time ever their Annual had been held out of the USA in Hannover, Germany. Year Books would be sent to the delegates as she had been unable to carry them on the plane. Any new breeds in their registry are genetically tested and they have a number of geneticists for this purpose. The Peterbald had been accepted. The Toyger had also been accepted; this had been developed from Indian street cats. There were 18 characteristics and any new breeder must work on one of these and would have to meet requirements. The Thai breed had also been accepted. Many people were anxious about defects in existing breeds and the TICA geneticists were occupied in health issues and also diseases communicable between cats and humans. Double toe nails was an example and this could work back and forth between people and cats. She explained that warts appear as another toe. She also cited an example of a British breeder in hospital who was found to have a fungal disease in the lungs which her cat also developed as well as her husband and children. The TICA automatic scoring was being re-vamped. Continuing Education Units (CEU) were held in the summer when there were less shows. They were trying to keep control of people who had too many cats. The TICA office space had doubled.  She also reported that juniors were putting on shows in various US cities over the next three years.

 

WCF – Mrs Wagner reported that their General Assembly had been held in August 2006 in Essen. There had been 18 countries and 36 members represented. They had accepted 7 new clubs out of 20 applications and two clubs had been suspended for not paying their fees. The Show Rules had been updated. The name and logo had been registered as a trademark. WCF had co-operated with LOOF on animal welfare matters, Cinnamon and Fawn had been accepted in British. The Ural Rex had been recognised. There had been 15 new clubs with 85 members and 400 licensed shows in the preceding year. This involved more work and a demand for information and communication.

 

8. Proposals from member bodies:

Mr Reijers asked for the ACF Proposal No. 3 to be considered at the same time as the FIFe proposal.

 

ACF Proposal No. 2 Concerning Artificial Insemination Protocols. Mrs Morgan-Blythe suggested that it should be discussed internally within the member bodies and ideas brought to the meeting in 2008. She referred to serious ethical issues. She thought that WCC should set registration and administration protocols to which all could comfortably agree to subscribe. She referred to Dr Little’s remarks on the subject at the Seminar which endorsed the need to have regulations in place before the situation arose. She explained that for AI procedure the female had to be sedated and it was an invasive process. DNA fingerprinting would be essential as well as clean bills of health on the cats being used.

Mr Reijers said that Sweden had regulations with rules from the Ministry of Agriculture which could be looked at. Ms Delabar pointed out that any rules would have to be enforceable. She felt that a statement could be made. Mrs Morgan Blythe asked the other members to consider what protocols they would like in place regarding registration and administration of Artificial Insemination.

Currently CFA had decided not to register any AI litters. FIFe did not feel rules could be made for something which might never happen. Mrs Morgan Blythe repeated that ACF would like basic protocols in place. There were varying opinions about the need but Mrs Shingleton offered to work with Mrs Morgan Blythe and bring policy statements to the meeting in 2008.

 

ACF Proposal No. 4 Instead of nominations coming from the floor at the WCC, nominations (on member body letterhead) be lodged with the WCC Secretary and distributed at least 4 weeks prior to the WCC meeting. In the event that no nominations are received, nominations will be accepted from the floor.

FIFe was not in favour as they felt that the meeting was the only chance of getting to know people and that this would be another step towards making WCC an organisation. The President said that any changes to the Constitution should be very formal and formulated as such. Mrs Morgan Blythe lodged notice of a motion for 2008. This was seconded by Mr Jobson. Two votes in favour, 1 abstention and 7 opposed.

 

ACF Proposal No. 5 Regarding the Asian Pet Trade. A letter to the Australian Government had been formulated during the lunch break. It was read out by Mrs Morgan Blythe. Mrs U’Ren felt that after the initial letter more in-depth matters could be discussed, she moved that the letter be sent, seconded by Mr Reijers and unanimously accepted.

Mr Reijers asked about the policy statement concerning Animals Asia. The President said that she had looked into it and it was an animal rights organisation and as such, she did not think WCC could support it. There was further discussion on the pet trade from Australia and Mr Reijers repeated that it was beyond the remit of the WCC. He asked for it to be noted that the request from ACF had now been implemented and ACF was satisfied.

 

ACF Proposal No. 6 This constituted a reminder that according to the Constitution a date and location for the annual WCC meeting should be known two years in advance but this had not been the case in recent years. Mr Jobson remarked that it would be nice if this could be known five years in advance. The President explained the difficulty of finding a date with less impact on CFA shows. She added that CFA policy has allowed cancellation of another date in order to attend a WCC meeting. She said that there were some alternative venues for 2008 and she would inform the members of the final decision within one week of the meeting. She also said that at the show and meeting in the States, it would be the first time that a TICA judge would be asked to officiate at a CFA show.

 

FIFe Proposal No. 1 had been withdrawn and would be brought back at a later date in a more comprehensive form to allow for national legislation.

 

FIFe Proposal No. 2 concerning the time scales for receipt of proposals and agenda items for the annual WCC meeting. Mr Reijers explained that there was always a lot of work around the Christmas period and thought that a shorter period was workable. Both WCF and SACC needed time to discuss the proposal. Mr Reijers then withdrew it.

 

FIFe Proposal No. 3 This concerned reimbursement of part of the travel expenses of those members’ delegates coming from a long distance. Mr Reijers explained that he was not sure how to implement it as he did not know what other expenditure would have to be met by the WCC. The FIFe treasurer had an outline for how to work it out. Mr Jobson said that in New Zealand everybody put in receipts and then the amounts were equalized. Mr Reijers moved that the proposal be accepted, this was seconded by Mr Jobson. Mr Duplessis was not in favour but otherwise it was accepted unanimously. It was to be immediately implemented.

The meeting went into closed session in order to discuss certain matters and the WCF proposal. It was opened again at 5.35 p.m. when the President informed the onlookers what had been decided in the closed session.

 

9. WCC meeting 2008

Ms Delabar said there were five possible venues in Orlando, Houston, San Antonia, Texas and Las Vegas.

The President officially thanked Mrs Hackmann for hosting the current meeting .
The 2009 meeting was also discussed. Mr Jobson proposed a joint Australian and New Zealand effort with the meeting to be held in Australia and delegate judges to be invited to judge in NZ as well. There was also an offer from Portugal for 2009 and there had been some discussion about the possibility of Holland.

Easter was 10-13/4 in 2009 and the possibility of holding the meeting in Australia in March was discussed.

 

10. Any other business

SACC said they would be interested in hosting a WCC meeting but needed information in advance. The President suggested that a manual should be made covering all that was involved in hosting the meeting. The Secretary agreed to look into it.

It was agreed that 2009 would definitely be in Australia.

The President thanked Mr Reijers who was retiring as Vice-President.

Mr Jobson moved to close the meeting at 5.55 p.m., seconded by Mrs Morgan Blythe and carried unanimously.

 

Signed by:

Pam Delabar, President of WCC and of CFA and in the Chair

Eric Reijers, General Secretary of FIFe and Vice-President of WCC)

Kaai du Plessis, (President of SACC)

Ortrun Wagner, (Delegate of WCF)

Albie Jobson, (NZCF Chairman)

Betty Shingleton, (Chairman of GCCF)

Lesley Morgan Blythe, (International Liaison Officer of ACF Inc.)

Cheryle U’Ren, (Vice-President of CCC of A)

Kay DeVilbiss, (President of TICA)