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Man, 67, sets fire to cat 'house' in Bukit Batok, gets arrested for mischief by fire
He supposedly complained that they were untidy and affected estate cleanliness.
Gawain Pek
November 20, 2025, 07:39 PM
A box left under the void deck of a block in the Bukit Batok estate for cats to use as a "house" was set on fire in the early hours of Nov. 19.
Earlier in September, cat feeders also found similar boxes discarded.
These acts were allegedly done by the same resident, who had apparently objected to the cat houses, saying that they would affect the tidiness and cleanliness of the estate.Nov. 19 fire
On Nov. 19, a person, Lee, shared on Facebook about the burned cat houses in the community group, "Sayang Our Singapore's Community Cats".Lee, 51, told Mothership that she learned about the incident through a fellow cat feeder.
The incident was caught on a surveillance camera installed outside a nearby residential unit.
In the CCTV footage, a man in an orange vest could be seen walking up to a box placed on the ground beside a pillar at around 1:28am on Nov. 19.
He then bent over, set the box alight and walked away.The fire burned for about 30 minutes before it died down.
Throughout that time, cats could be seen walking around the vicinity as they observed the fire, while several residents also went over to investigate.
The footage indicate that the police and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officers arrived on scene at around 2am.
The SCDF confirmed that it was alerted to the fire on Nov. 19 at about 1:50am.
It said that members of the public extinguished the fire using water and there were no reported injuries.
Nov. 20 fire
In an update to her post, Lee said the man struck again on Nov. 20.A surveillance camera again caught a man, wearing a similar orange vest, setting fire to items left behind for cats.
This time, his act was witnessed by a lady, who approached the fire in an attempt to put it out.
Another resident joined the effort later on.
The lady appears to be one of the residents who cares for the community cats as she could be seen feeding them afterwards.
The entire episode lasted around seven minutes.
Man previously complained about cat houses
According to Lee, the fires were the latest escalation in an ongoing dispute between the cat feeding community and a frustrated resident in the Bukit Batok estate.The man seen starting the fires in the CCTV videos had apparently previously complained about the cat houses and even threw them away, Lee claimed.
Lee also shared that the area's Member of Parliament (MP), Rahayu Mahzam, was aware of the issue and had shared about it on her Facebook page previously.
In the Sep. 18 Facebook post, Rahayu mentioned that she encountered a resident who shared concerns about the increasing number of makeshift cat houses in the estate during her house visit.
She wrote then that her team and her will engage the cat feeders.She also wrote that the concerned resident had removed some of the boxes meant for cats and urged residents to find common ground.
Mothership has reached out to the MP for more information.
Lee explained that after the boxes were discarded, the community of cat feeders enlisted the help of the ground floor resident nearby to help keep an eye out for the cat houses through his surveillance camera.
Whenever something was amiss with the cat houses, they would appeal to the resident for help with providing footage and he would kindly oblige.
This was how Lee and other community cat carers put two and two together to deduce that the person who set the boxes on fire on Nov. 19 and 20 and the person who previously discarded the cat houses was likely the same resident.
The 51-year-old explained that relocating the cats would take some time as there were concerns about the cat's general safety if they were moved to another area.For example, they might get into fights with cats that already occupy the area, she continued.
Responding to queries from Mothership, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said that it was alerted to a fire at Block 263 Bukit Batok East Avenue 4 at about 1:50am on Nov. 19.
"Preliminary investigations revealed that a 67-year-old man had allegedly set fire to cat dwellings," SPF said.
No injuries were reported.
