Present:
WCC Vice President – Jan van Rooyen
WCC Secretary - Robbie Walker
ACF Delegate - Judith Jordan
CCCA Delegate – Tracey Camp
CFA Delegate – Pam Delabar
CFA Advisor – Rachel Anger
FIFe Delegate – Annette Sjodin
FIFe Advisor – Sara Moroni
GCCF Delegate – Steve Crow
GCCF Advisor – Anna McEntee
SACC Delegate – Johan van Rooyen
TICA Adviser - Vicki Jo Harrison
TICA Advisor – Danny Nevarez
WCF Delegate - Anneliese Hackmann
WCF Advisor – Fabrice Calmes
Observers:
Yana Warluzel (Royal Canin), Patricia Bunter, Lorraine Shelton, Julian Schuller, Satu Hämäläinen, Phebe Lowe, Hong Kong Black Cat Club team members
Vice President, Jan van Rooyen called for everyone to stand for a minutes silence for WCC President, Eric Reijers who passed away this morning.
1. Opening
WCC Vice President, Jan van Rooyen opened the meeting at 0925. He welcomed everyone and thanked them for their and their member body’s support to WCC and stated his hope was that we as a Congress will go further in cooperating with each other in the issues we must deal with.
2. Attendance of the Delegates
WCC Secretary: Robbie Walker, called the roll of the delegates present as listed above.
3. Approval of the Agenda
CFA, Pam Delabar, there is an item for discussion which should be in Executive session, I move that we move into an Executive session at the conclusion of the business meeting which includes the Finance items.
Moved: CFA, Pam Delabar
Seconded: GCCF, Steve Crow
All Approved
4. Establishment of Breaks
These were established as:
Morning coffee break 1100 Lunch break 1230 - Afternoon tea break 1430
5. Approval of the Minutes of the Business Meeting in 2024
Moved: CFA, Pam Delabar
Seconded: NZCF, Ngaire Dixon,>br>Approved unanimously
The 2024 minutes were circulated for signatures.
6. Matters Arising from the Minutes of the Business Meeting
1. Vice President, Jan van Rooyen, I know last year I wasn’t at the meeting and there was a discussion, on page 8, paragraph 10.1.2, raised by CFA, Pam Delabar about the Vice President nominee not being present at the meeting. If this needs to be amended, who will do such a proposal for 2026? This was mentioned last year that 6.2 would need an amendment and I didn't see any amendment coming forth for that specific paragraph in the Constitution.
Is there someone that wants to take this for next year so we can amend that to be included? I know there's a discussion between the word “can” and “may".
Secretary, Robbie Walker, that came because of the WCF proposal motion and was approved unanimously at the meeting.
Vice President, Jan van Rooyen, I think we also need to look at that next, the change that was accepted last year also means we should align these two clauses with each other, where the nomination should be received two months before the annual meeting to put that into perspective.
Action: New wording to clarify Clauses 6.2 and 7.8.2 to be brought back to the 2026 meeting.
2. Vice President, Jan van Rooyen, there was long discussion last year about the Corin gene and the flaxen. What I got from the minutes is TICA calls it Corin and WCF calls it Flaxen or Sunshine Flaxen.
In SACC, we are just starting to see the colour.
My proposal is can WCC decide on a name for the Corin expression to ensure uniformity within our member organisations. Associations. that are not seeing it yet should call it by the name WCC decided and can then add it to their standard of points and align their SOPs accordingly.
How do you feel about that?
CFA, Rachel Anger, Vicki, Jo and I took on the project from the 2023 WCC meeting in Tasmania, Australia. Basically, the materials we had at the time, Corin was the genetic reference to the colour. In the meantime, other associations have named it different things, that was our position at the time when we TICA reported on it in Bangkok last year.
Vice President, Jan van Rooyen, Anneliese and Fabrice, once we decide that Corin is the term going forward would WCF adjust the name accordingly?
WCF, Fabrice Calmes, we are still in the recognition stage, WCF has not recognised it yet.
Vice President, Jan van Rooyen, would WCF accept the term Corin? WCF, Anneliese Hackmann & Fabrice Calmes, Yes.
Moved: Vice President, Jan van Rooyen.
I want to move that going forward when there's a discussion, investigation, or anything at WCC level, we refer to it as Corin, and then we know that we're talking about that specific colour.
Seconded: NZCF, Ngaire Dixon
Approved unanimously
President, Jan van Rooyen, can I ask someone to move and second that the minutes are accepted with the corrections.
Moved: CFA, Pam Delabar
Seconded: FIFe, Annette Sjodin All Approved
7. Finance
Deferred until Executive Session at the close of the business meeting
8. Elections
8.1 Election of a President for a period of two years.
President, Jan van Rooyen, point eight elections, there was nomination for Eric from FIFe which has been withdrawn. We need to take nominations from the floor for President.
CFA, Rachel Anger, I nominate Pam Delabar.
Vice President, Jan van Rooyen, any other nominations? FIFe, Annette Sjodin, we nominate Jan van Rooyen.
Vice President, Jan van Rooyen, Robbie will hand out ballots, only one vote per member body, just write their name on the ballot.
Vice President, Jan van Rooyen, can we have someone from the back to be a scrutineer with Robbie, Thank you, Julie Schuller
Secretary, Robbie Walker, Jan van Rooyen was elected by majority vote Round of applause.
President, Jan van Rooyen, thank you for the confidence in me. I've got a lot to learn from you.
Being that the Vice Presidents position is now vacant we need nominations from the floor for Vice President. This will be only for one year, because the Vice President is only elected each alternative year, which is 2026. Any nominations?
SACC, Johan van Rooyen, we nominate Annette Sjodin. President, Jan van Rooyen, any other nominations?
CFA, Rachel Anger, I nominate Pam Delabar.
President, Jan van Rooyen, Robbie will hand out ballots, only one vote per member body, just write their name on the ballot as before. Julie, will you be the scrutineer again. Secretary, Robbie Walker, Annette Sjodin is duly elected.
9. Presentation by Royal Canin
Deferred to after 10.2.
President, Jan van Rooyen, we move to point 10. We received two proposals from CFA and TICA, very similar proposals, word for word, they are basically the same. May I ask for one or both of you to speak to the proposal and what do you want WCC to consider on this point?
10. Proposals
10.1 CFA/TICA Proposal
1. The World Cat Congress form a committee to draw up guidelines and materials for associations to use when confronted by anti-breed/anti-breeder laws.
2. The World Cat Congress identify current areas of anti-breed/anti-breeder legislation and respond as an organization to the appropriate authorities, in addition to the member association affected by this legislation.
Rationale:
We are concerned regarding the increase in restrictive breeding legislation across the world; in particular, European countries. Most concerning is the ever-restrictive legislation aimed at certain breeds, even in the face of contrary scientific and genetic information.
CFA, Pam Delabar, CFA has been working against anti-breeder, and anti-breed, legislation since about 1988 and has formulated different plans of action on how we address these.
The European Union has a very definitive proposal that's up with all the EU countries. Basically, it has to do with the identification of cats. Jan, we have gone back and forth on this, and it's basically knowing who your opposition is, we found out about this in Austria, I recently had it confirmed by the one of the FIFe Federation Presidents in Austria that hairless cats are totally banned, and they've started on other animals as well.
This immediately affects four of the member organisations in the World, Cat Congress, CFA, FIFe, TICA and WCF. The worst so far has been in Switzerland, where any kind of deviation has been pretty much banned. The term torture breeding is being used quite frequently to describe what we do in our hobby.
But even with just four of the nine organisations, we have lots of smart people in other organisations who can come up with ideas. Ngaire is a veterinarian, she knows different ways to state things.
What we're looking for is to form a committee, and we talked with TICA. The reason that the letters sound so much alike is because we collaborated, we can form a committee to begin working on how we are going to address this, if we don't address it, then we are going to see WCC’s reason for existing go away.
That's why Vicki Jo, Rachel and I, with the backing of the CFA board which has offered any tool that we need, the personnel, we do have a very knowledgeable person in charge of our legislative committee.
We'd like to see this being at WCC level to really get something together. Last year, WCC agreed to put a statement on each of our websites, “The World Cat Congress, an organisation consisting of the nine (9) largest feline registries in the world, promotes the health and welfare of all cats and the responsible breeding and ownership of them”, we, used some of the words from Royal Canin.
This also works well with the next proposal that we will be considering, which comes from FIFe, on the Health and Welfare issues, this works very well, hand in hand with the Health and Welfare Commission that they are proposing,
Our position is that we support the preservation of breeding of our recognised pedigree cats and support their welfare.
President, Jan van Rooyen, I can speak about South Africa, our opposition currently comes from the municipalities of the different cities and towns that have somehow been informed that cats are being bred with defects. We certainly need something that can counteract their arguments and policies, this has only started recently.
This is something we as an organisation can work together and bring in viewpoints from all over, be it from the US or Europe or wherever.
The FIFe proposal was moved within the discussion on the legislative proposal from CFA & TICA as there was cross discussion overlapping.
10.2 FIFe Proposal
FIFe suggests creating a WCC Health and Welfare working group with representatives from all members that will work together on health and welfare issues that are identified (e.g. extreme confirmations):
a. Each member will nominate 2 people to participate in the working group.
b. The working group may invite additional experts in the field to help or to consult on identified health and welfare problems.
c. The working group may suggest proposals to the WCC to discuss at the annual WCC meeting.
Rationale:
Several countries worldwide are struggling with government restrictions concerning several breeds with extreme conformations (e.g. Persian/Exotics, Sphynx, Manx/Cymric etc.) and the goal of this group is to identify these problems and work together with other experts in the field to address issues and help to improve the health and welfare of these cats to try to prevent banning these breeds in the future by governments.
FIFe, Sara Moroni, this is a global issue now, there is a government legislative issues going on throughout Europe, because of two proposals that were carried and will soon be discussed in China. Traceability and the so-called extreme features, what is traceability, basically having our heads treated like boots, this is not meant for any welfare reason, it is meant for consumer care.
The discussion going on that genetic testing is promoted to protect buyers, because that's what the genetic test tells them. If you go through the 700 pages of reports that the EU Commission prepared, it's all about millions or billions spent on pets, buying cats, and all market related.
I see this traceability proposal, even though it impacts on our core business, we shouldn't consider these as our focus when it comes to the detrimental figures, those extreme figures that I talk about, then we have to step in, because if they see our cats as a product, there's very little we can do at this very moment, as hard as it might sound, they are a product. We can work on the second proposal, at FIFe we have discussed this at a government level, at the 2024 FIFe General Assembly there was a representative of the EU Commission. What we agreed on is that the perception, as Pam was saying, is not scientifically based. Very little studies have been produced on hairless cats, and luckily, we are in contact with some universities, but unluckily, those ethological behavioral studies are very hard to conduct, as soon as we take for example the Sphynx to a University for a study, their behavior will change because they are no longer in their own environment.
The study the Dutch universities are using to ban Sphynx are behavioural studies from the 90s, it's true that breeders in the Netherlands and Germany receive visits and inspections by veterinarians.
That is why FIFe’s proposal is trying to setup a Commission with representatives from each WCC member body and the possibility of involving external consultants, There is already an informal working group organised after the 2024 WCC the EU representative rejected a letter by Professor Leslie Lyons saying, we need to unite and share our resources, and move as a one, to make a huge statement. They rely on gut feeling rather than being scientifically grounded. We need to unite and combine our resources; we have some valuable people within our organisations we need to use their expertise and if we have any university researcher contacts, utilise them.
TICA, Vicki Jo Harrison, one of the reasons I talked to Pam, about a joint proposal is TICA has a legislative committee with members from different places, we have two in Europe, in different countries. The legislative committees goal is to find legislation before it's passed and try to combat it. Unfortunately, legislation moves so quickly, we react to it, but often it is too late. If we can combine our resources and expertise and produce scientific evidence and arguments to counter the negative legislation, we can make a big difference, because it's happening in Europe right now, as stated its happening in South Africa, if we don't do this, we're not going to have a hobby to lead them.
GCCF, Steve Crow, I support the proposals, we do need to work together and share and identify common ground, if we're going to make public statements across the world, we need to agree some baselines that we all are going to work on.
We did start work earlier on this, we had a lot of trouble around 2008 - 2009 in the dog world with a big expose on dog breeds, that really woke me up to this it is going to come our way at some point.
We produced our general breeding policy, that was approved by The GCCF council in 2010 and that is now the basis on which we recognise or don’t recognise breeds and move forward with the breeds we have got. And we've used that without within our governments. It lays out how and what breeds we will accept, that we regard as healthy, and why we regard them as healthy, and what breeds we would never recognize because of genetic health issues.
I would share that as part of the way forward, most of the pressure on the UK government comes from charities and vetting organisations, it is not politicians themselves, but they are being lobbied hard by charities and by BVA to some extent. Again, the way we've approached this is we have a sector group on feline and canine in the UK that advises the Animal Welfare Board and the government. GCCF has a seat on the group, I have been on it since it was established in 2014.
It is about education and challenging the comments about different breeds, we must address these comments in an intelligent way, most of them are based on emotion, backyard breeders are a big problem they are breeding most of these cats that are a problem, we need to make that clear to our detractors.
We have legislation now because there is a licensing cap on breeding in the UK, which is about to be expanded even further in the next stand for animal welfare bill, which is coming in the next year or two, with the new government elected last year.
We must acknowledge we have to accept that but try to influence it so that it is not detrimental to the way in which we operate, at the same time try to counter some of the misinformation about different breeds.
There isn't a resource in government to concentrate on backyard breeders, they focus on the people that are most visible, legitimate breeders and exhibitors at cat shows.
President, Jan van Rooyen I think the issue in South Africa has to do with, the backyard breeders, and the complaints reported to the police who in turn inform the municipalities. Is the intention of this group that we want to address the cats that are not registered? I have seen the studies that more than 90% of cats that cause problems are not registered with an association.
FIFE, Sara Moroni, the charities or animal welfare organisations in the EU regulation are considered stakeholders, we are not. Only eight (8) to eleven (11) percent of cats worldwide are pedigree cats.
We should work on trying to educate and in cooperating with veterinarians, because veterinarians and charities are considered stakeholders.
NZCF, Ngaire Dixon the Executive Committee of New Zealand Cat Fancy is absolutely in support of these three proposals that have been put forward, whilst we currently are not seeing the same problems that other countries are seeing, we're aware that if we do not put more focus on health and welfare of cats, if we do not put more focus on the scientific basis of this, we're going to lose breeds, which was discussed last year.
CFA, Pam Delabar, the people that Sarah talks about, being stakeholders, are some of our biggest problems. I'm really excited to see the amount of conversation that's going on and people picking up on these ideas, we can make a difference, and it starts today. President, Jan van Rooyen, this brings just one question to mind, some of the breeds we are discussing that are problematic, that have genetic defects. I love the Scottish Fold, two years ago, Leslie Lyons said in Australia that even though we know the cats have constant pain, even growing up and all that. Will this commission that we put together also address these types of things in specific breeds?
CFA, Pam Delabar, to some extent, but I will withhold any remarks on what we are talking about specific breeds, especially with the Scottish Folds, until after the seminar tomorrow.
WCF, Fabrice Calmes, these regulations do not only impact the breeding, but they also impact on showing cats, we need to be concerned that showing cats, there may be stress with transport, strange accommodation and other such changes in their environment. So, we should also consider the number of times a cat is shown, should it be shown every weekend.
TICA, Danny Nevarez, I want to offer a little bit of a different perspective on how to counter this, building on what Steve said that a lot of people make emotional comments. Correct and we are losing that emotional battle in the Cat Fancy, specifically, with differentiating ourselves from backyard breeders. I think that the studies, the scientific approaches are fantastic, but I personally see those bullets into a larger gun, and that larger gun is how we are losing the emotional battle.
We are not equipped or organised to be able to counter those, and there are several organisations talking about who is the opposition. You have animal welfare organisations arguing that it's overpopulation, government and legislative bodies that are out there to protect public health, veterinary and scientific communities for causing health problems, and then the public and media just promoting an adopt, don't shop.
What I would propose is that this committee, as they work together, come up with a proactive, or an offensive approach to having stories out there so that these things can be distributed en masse.
I understand market penetration; we need messages around every one of these that we can all continue to share because we're already in arrears. They have already won the emotional battle on these things, and so we must differentiate ourselves, we must go on an offensive marketing approach that talks about the value of breeding, the fact that breeders are health advocates, that all DNA testing goes towards the greater good of all cats. I just think it needs to be very offensive, and less about arguing the very specific points those are very important, but it has to be an overall offensive approach that all of us are pushing on a daily basis through our social media, so that we penetrate and change the minds of those who are so easily taken in by some of these emotional statements.
ACF, Judith Jordan, I would like to share the Australian experience, we tend to think we're on this big, great Island, and nothing that happens overseas crosses our border.
There are two states in Australia, one is my home, South Australia, the other is Victoria. Victorian government legislation was a big wake up call to everyone in Victoria. The Animal Rights pet lobby got hold of the government and did their emotional and educational job very, very well to the extent that a lot of catteries closed, or they had to move so far out of metropolitan Melbourne that they were almost unviable, there are heavily restricted on numbers, what they can breed and how many cats they can have at any one time. I can also say from my own discussions with Victorians, that they were invited to an initial meeting with government, and they were not very proactive. They just were very good and polite, and they went to only one meeting. They did not follow up with the government, all these meetings took place, and they did not have a seat at the table.
In South Australia, our situation was a little different, I had personal contact with the dog and cat Management Board and the Secretary of that through other family contacts, and I made sure we had a seat at the table. Governing Council of the Cat Fancy of South Australia Inc. (GCCFSA) and the Feline Association of South Australia (FASA) we were at every meeting speaking with the same voice. It isn't perfect legislation it was crafted in 2015-2016. The implementation of it became a funding thing, we all had to pay license fees, some very good rules were put in place, such as how many cats you can have, how often you can breed them, how much space you've got to have in your cattery.
The welfare part was taken care of; however, it's the backyard breeders who the dog and cat Management Board are letting through the back door, and we've got to close that door, we're in the process of doing another round of negotiations. Once again, both state bodies affiliated with the ACF & CCC of A have seats at the table.
It is education, we may have lost the emotional battle we have got to have one voice that speaks universally about other issues, it is a marketing issue, make as much noise for want of a better word in social media and elsewhere, everyone has to have that little bit of that media grab ready if they are interviewed.
TWe don't need to reinvent the wheel all our member associations need to speak with the same voice, maybe modify the wording, we must have media package ready to go. We agree with all the animal welfare issues that have been raised, I personally think it is a marketing exercise, we need genetics, we need the facts behind it, but we need to market as aggressively as our detractors do.
GCCF, Steve Crow, I think we do need to tell our story as loudly as they tell theirs. I think we need to be careful about being credible, setting out our basic standards and what we think is acceptable and acknowledging that some things aren't acceptable.
We are going to have to sort this out between us, as an organisation, we have very clear views about some breeds, and the Scottish Fold is one of them, though we would not ever consider recognising it, that wins plaudits from a lot of the stakeholders that we're now working with.
Working with the kennel club in the UK, their breeds have gone further down the road than a lot of ours, the UK government can't do things to cat breeds without equally doing them to dog breeds. If they are going to ban brachycephalic cat breeds, they will have to ban brachycephalic dog breeds as well, the public backlash would be immense. We must use those arguments to push back and find a compromise position where we say to Governments, yes, we accept this legislation the same way that we've accepted cap breeding licensing in the UK. I was able to comment and gather people within GCCF to comment on draft schedule when it was being written before the legislation went through Parliament, we had a seat at the table.
President, Jan van Rooyen, I think we are at that stage it sounds like everybody around the table agrees we should have a working group that comes from WCC
CFA, Pam Delabar, can we first vote on the concept of accepting the concept that WCC is going to form a Legislative commission, we can then vote on the concept that we are going to have a Health & Welfare commission the health group. Then we can work on how we're going to form these commissions.
President, Jan van Rooyen, they were brought up as two separate proposals, we will vote on them separately and then decide how to organise them.
First, the legislative commission? Does everyone agree that WCC forms a Legislative Commission.
Moved: CFA, Pam Delabar
Seconded: TICA, Vicki Jo Harrison
Approved Unanimously
Action: Chair, Pam Delabar, to report back to WCC on the first meeting and the Terms of Reference drafted.
President, Jan van Rooyen, taking that mission now forward, how do you see the structure of that commission, and what is the starting objective?
CFA, Pam Delabar, can we come back to that after we get the Health and Welfare going? Hopefully, over this weekend, before everybody disperses, we can get together and present something to group. I have ideas. I haven't had a chance to talk to Vicki Jo about, I am sure other people here, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are now vitally concerned. I see at least one representative from each organisation being part of the legislative group.
FIFe, Sara Moroni, we have in our proposal, two people from each organisation, not necessarily from the board, two representatives experienced in health and welfare, with one chairperson or spokesperson. Especially when it comes to talking to governments at a higher level, if at the end of September, with the Royal Canin the Choose Health initiative, we have a seat with European Commission, there can only be one representative.
President, Jan van Rooyen, Sarah are you moving that WCC also form a Health and Welfare Commission.
Moved: FIFe, Sara Moroni
Seconded: CFA, Pam Delabar
Approved Unanimously
Action: Chair, Sara Moroni, to report back to WCC on the first meeting and the Terms of Reference drafted.
President, Jan van Rooyen, we have the two commissions formed, one thing to keep in mind is what budget you will need from WCC, there may be meetings to attend, this is not in the current budget which will now need to be adjusted. We need to start talking to sponsors who will offset some of the additional costs.
GCCF, Steve Crow, one of the first considerations is to set the Terms of Reference for each commission and report back to WCC. Getting the terms of reference in writing we can then share them within our own organisations, and information and visibility around these commissions.
President, Jan van Rooyen, I agree which is why, you know we say we need at least monthly feedback on the progress, to take to our member.
So, we have two commissions now, but maybe at one stage we need to look to see if it may be better to have one with two different things. Pam, just to let you know, sorry, and I are sort of related by family, our breeds. And we have no problems talking in no way. I'm going to step on the toes of the Health Commission.
We'll also provide anything that we have already set up in publications and pamphlets to share with the entire group, and that's going to be one of the first things that I think that Vicky and I want to get out is what we have out there for your use already, and to make sure that you've got that, you know, in your in your bank, per se, to be able to use. And then we'll get more, more specifics.
Could it be combined into one commission and with the subcommittee of the legislation? Or possibly, right now, I think that both of us need to set that up and then see we can interact going forward with two goals.
It, yes, I think each one needs to go away first and get their objectives of each commission, and then we can see where there's overlapping and then try. But for now, let's leave it to GCCF, Steve Crow, I see these as two different issues, the Health Commission, we are all working in the same sort of scientific and genetic area, we have a common language. When we come to legislation it is different, we have different legislation in different countries,CFA, Pam Delabar, USA have 50 different states, living in Europe, still within, the EU, and then the rest of Europe, we are seeing entirely different ways of getting things done. We formulate the basic references right now; it is incumbent upon the people who are in these areas to take the information and mould it to how we need it we ensure we are using the right terms. What is the difference between animal welfare and animal rights?
President, Jan van Rooyen, so now we get to the members that will be part of this commission, you said earlier that you want representation from each Association. Delegates need to go back and see who would be interested, they need to be involved. They must know how their governments operate.
Can each member here go back and propose someone who will be their representative on the legislative committee by the end of August?
Then on the Health and Welfare Commission, is the proposal for two representatives from each WCC member?
FIFe, Sara Moroni, the representatives don’t have to be from the board of the respective member.
President, Jan van Rooyen, will you send a little short write up of the profile of the type of the people you need, is it possible that we can have this in a week? Everybody needs to forward names to Robbie, who will forward the names to the respective commission Chair.
Action: Member bodies to advise WCC Secretary of one (1) representative for the Legislative Commission and two (2). representatives for the Health & Welfare Commission.
9. President, Jan van Rooyen, welcomed the Royal Canin representative for the Asia Pacific region, Yana Warluzel.
11. Matters For Discussion ACF
That the World Cat Congress (WCC) investigates and discusses the option of some delegates attending via electronic media.
Points To Consider:
1. Technology has vastly improved in the years since the inception of the World Cat Congress and this would allow more flexibility,
2. WCC could consider allowing delegates to attend the meeting via electronic media thus allowing them a physical presence.
3. A simple majority of the member organisations attending an online meeting in person would still be required to constitute a quorum.
4. Whilst the member bodies span many time zones, it would be the responsibility of the representative of the member body/s not attending to call into the meeting at the commencement time of the business meeting.
5. Inclusion in the Executive meeting if decided by the meeting.
6. As ballots for contested positions are by secret ballot, this would disadvantage those not attending in person unless their vote was sent to the WCC Secretary no later than the day prior to the meeting.
7. Travel and accommodation costs have increased exponentially since COVID and for some organisations it may be too costly to attend every year.
8. It would minimise expenditure for both WCC and the smaller members.
ACF, Judith Jordan, this was put forward by members of ACF requesting that the World Cat Congress (WCC) consider whether or not the WCC could be conducted electronically, perhaps not every year, but every other year with a view to, number one, appealing to the members of the member organisations, to be more transparent and accessible by allowing people to dial in and listen to the discussion.
Secondly, there was also discussion on whether WCC would consider delegates from smaller organisations attending via an electronic platform, making it more cost-effective to participate, this may be an additional cost for host members with it. I know there are issues with time differences, and I do not begin to understand the complexities that this may cause, the majority of ACF’s member bodies wanted this on the agenda for discussion.
TICA, Vicki Jo Harrison, two of our three meetings are via zoom, we have no issues, it's very early for some people in the morning, for people in Asia, it is late in the evening, it is hard, but it's doable, we think it is a really good idea, to allow members of an organisation to be a part of the open session of the business meeting. If we do have in person meetings this allows people to attend via zoom and listen to discussion.
CFA, Pam Delabar, we have two in-person meetings, which I find to be much more productive than the Zoom meetings,
Part of the reason for WCC members coming together once a year is not just the meeting, but also the social interaction and networking, discussing different facts that may not arise during the meeting. This is what would be missed, it is easier to converse, easier to relate to topics of discussion.
ACF, Judith Jordan, what about the idea that members of our organisations at home who may want to be able to dial in and see for instance the Royal Canin presentation, or listen to some of the discussion, nothing that goes into camera, of course. But what do you think of that?
CFA, Pam Delabar, it is not that hard to do, I can see the participants, those on the board, plus all those who have clicked the link to watch the meeting.
It helps get the message out,
GCCF, Steve Crow, I agree with the value of meeting in person, socialising and networking outside of the formal meetings is important, it is about building relationships that we can sustain over time.
If we are talking about coming together more and working together more, it is even more important than perhaps it has been in the past.
Opening access to our wider membership. would raise WCC’s profile to the grass roots members.
President, Jan van Rooyen, there is a mention of cost that it will be incurred by the host club, are we saying the host club will be responsible for the Zoom license if we go this way, or will it be a WCC license?
CFA, Pam Delabar, why don’t we approach somebody who is media smart, and investigate that the actual cost would be, and present the financial aspects that would be incurred if we choose to go down this road. The host would need to have the infrastructure to host the zoom meeting.
President, Jan van Rooyen, do we need this for the meeting wouldn't that be more valuable for everyone's members who would like to join?
FIFe, Sarah Moroni, just by chance I have it was done by FIFe PR commission, one license with Microsoft Business Basic is €70 per year, with Google, it is €163 per year.
TICA, Danny Nevarez, if you're doing just a Zoom meeting at $US199 or $US100 a year, no problem if you are doing a Zoom meeting, for instance if half of us are not here and the other half are trying to dial in, there are more logistics that come with it, you will need more equipment than just the Zoom want to run physical and a hybrid meeting.
President, Jan van Rooyen, I think the first issue is the proposal refers to if a members delegate cannot attend, will WCC sanction that in the future someone may not be able to attend in person, as was the case with me last year? Are we happy that someone will be permitted to dial in and be part of the meeting?
CFA, Pam Delabar, you charged Rachel and I to draft a rewrite of this section of the constitution, if we add the electronic portion, that will cover it if it is in the Constitution.
President, Jan van Rooyen, we are also discussing allowing our members participate or listen or watch what we discuss in the business meetings.
ACF, Judith Jordan, if I have understood it correctly, Danny mentioned that we would need more technology to enable people dialing in and not participating, in and watching would be simple Zoom.
TICA, Danny Nevarez, if they are just dialing in, the microphones still must be there, there are issue, s. if you have the right phone system, it works much better. If not, you must unmute, everyone must mute for you to be able to talk so that there's not an echo. So, yes there is some additional technology required.
President, Jan van Rooyen But remember, we may have two types of attendees, a delegate who needs to have access to give feedback and members who can only listen and watch. It will also mean that we need to set up a camera and recording.
FIFe, Sara Moroni, with Zoom there is an option that people attending will receive two different invitation links, one for the delegates, and one for the attendees, they can only listen and watch, they do not have the option to open the microphone.
CFA, Pam Delabar, you do not need a camera, you need a computer and a screen, for the seminar, it would be focused on the speakers and the presentation, you can record the seminars to share. We might want to start doing it with the seminars and see how that goes.
FIFe, Annette Sjodin, start with a seminar, at least our members are then able to listen and watch. It is very important, we have a lot of members, they don’t understand what WCC is, the question today is to investigate and discuss.
ACF, Judith Jordan, if you started with the seminars, I don't think you'd need to amend your constitution.
FIFe, Annette Sjodin, the FIFe General Assembly, except for the elections everyone can watch and listen.
ACF, Judith Jordan, that eliminates the time difference, they know if it's recorded there is going to be a link that suits them, not necessarily in real time, where the seminar is.
President, Jan van Rooyen, can I now look at Anna and Steve as GCCF is next year, is that something that you will take the lead on?
GCCF, Steve Crow, Robbie, we would certainly like to have a conversation about filming the seminar and getting it on YouTube as quickly as possible.
GCCF, Anna McEntee, we can take that away and look at doing that and look at options, we can possibly get it on YouTube within a couple of hours, it would then be accessible on the same day. Whether or not we can livestream it or not, will have to work with our venue on that, but we certainly will take that away considering
President, Jan van Rooyen, but you will consider the live streaming option? Yeah, so we'll wait for you. If you need any assistance with how to do it or anything, I think Danny's got some experience as well, and everybody has worked with Zoom. I think this is a win for WCC, for the availability to our members, because there is always questions “what you are doing at WCC?”.
Our decision is that we, with GCCF, test the seminar next year, and if it happens that one of the delegates cannot make it, then we decide, in time, to see how we're going to incorporate that delegate cannot be here.
GCCF, Steve Crow, if there is a problem next year, I think we can certainly from our end try and facilitate a zoom executive meeting.
President, Jan van Rooyen, excluding the executive meeting. Is anyone against live streaming the Business Meeting and seminar beginning in 2026.
ACF, Judith Jordan, you couldn’t do the business meeting next year until the constitution is changed.
CFA, Pam Delabar, there is a possibility that we can live stream the seminar tomorrow. I just need to get a hold of the smart person that does this, if we can, would you be willing to allow this?
President, Jan van Rooyen, is anyone against this?
Approved unanimously
Thank you, I think that is the way to go, so our members can also see what we do each year how we communicate and the type of issues we address.
12. Any Other Business
a. Pedigree Broker at Taobao China
Unfortunately, we have received information that family trees are offered by our organizations on various platforms in China (see. Annex) The suggestion would be that a letter be drafted by the WCC indicating to the platfom1s that unlicensed sales will be prohibited. Because our good reputation is not damaged by all organizations.
WCF, Anneliese Hackmann, when contacted, they ask if you have any information about the parents and if not, the kitten is assigned to other parents. The WCF is a legally protected logo in China. What about the other organizations? Pedigrees are a very big problem in China.
President, Jan van Rooyen, Anneliese, are you talking about these organisations, these agents are they producing pedigrees on stationery for CFA, FIFe and WCF or do they have their own name?
CFA, Pam Delabar, we have one thing that we have been doing is giving our breeders a cattery records every year. They can download, and they can check and say, yes, I had this letter, no, I did not have this letter.
We are finding that there are some very computer smart people from China, that are taking cattery names, cats out of their records, which is why we tell people, do not put your pedigrees on Facebook, protect your information. They produce fantasy pedigrees and sell them off.
We just dealt with a big case, dealing with ragdolls, it was through a ragdoll person in Italy, we just completed scrubbing all of this out. I think the other organisations that we worked with, everybody knows now which cats were incorrect it all comes back to China, it's individuals, it doesn't have to be a business.
CFA is very much aware of this; we try to tell everybody what we find and share the information.
Many federations have good computer programs, in Finland Suomen Kissaliitto (SK) has an outstanding program, breeders can go in and check what's going on under their cattery name, and if something pops up that's not correct, they can move on it, it's a great program, it is something that other associations might want to consider get your members to check their catteries, their yearly activity. NZCF, Ngaire Dixon, I'm seeing there is lot from WCF, TICA and CFA. Are they using the WCC name and logo, it is obvious that the logo being used should be the organisations that are commenting on it. Whether that must come from WCC, or whether it must come from the individual organisation that holds the legal protection.
President, Jan van Rooyen, WCC does not do registrations, it needs to be the individual organisation to deal with it. I feel there must be communications to the WCC members, in South Africa we import a lot of cats, from all over the world. I haven't seen any from China yet.
FIFe, Sara Moroni, thank you, WCF for introducing this topic. We had a meeting of the Welfare Commission, Breeding and Registration commission, and our roundtable breed Council, which are the ones starting the fraud and are affecting our Cat Fancy worldwide.
Some of the cats are totally invented, never existed and they just put on a pedigree. We do not know the Health and Welfare impact on cats, we do not know which are the original parents. They made a rough evaluation, about 20,000 random pedigrees are out with such a cat, it doesn't mean 20,000 original ones, but with fake cats, the responsible ones, the ethical ones, are now neutering such cats to avoid whatever random impact.
Because you don't know about inbreeding, you know nothing about such cats. The only thing they have in common, they come from China, you cannot blame the Chinese CFA, even if they have a CFA logo, because those pedigrees were not issued by CFA. They were issued by let us call them agencies, that is what they are, businesses. So, this has a very large impact, specifically breeds, which are popular now.
President, Jan van Rooyen, my question from the smaller associations that like, SACC, how are we going to ensure that if it says WCF pedigree, that we know it's not out of China?
FIFe, Sara Moroni, I can tell you what we are doing, it will not be done in a week. probably a few months. We are collecting breeders statements we are all aware of what we have produced. This will be in the cloud, we are updating a list of cats, and we will produce a statement to be distributed through our registries. FIFe, do not have a central registry, our members have their own, we want to make it aware that such cats never existed.
If these cats appear in your own registration program, a red light, a red flag will be there because these cats were invented, you cannot blame a person, but the issue must be notified. Whenever it is complete it will take time, we will share with the WCC member organisations.
President, Jan van Rooyen, at least we know if it is FIFe or WCF, if it is registered with either of those two associations, we can see which club is registered, we will know, it is a Chinese club and can contact the club. TICA and CFA, we will not know if it is a Chinese club and if someone is registered with China, because it is not on the pedigree,
CFA, Pam Delabar, you can check on the CFA website to see who is under disciplinary procedures in CFA, under suspensions, we have permanent, temporary or administrative. Many are due to registration fraud, the cats used are totally removed from the system.
ACF, Judith Jordan, I'm just trying to understand what we as an organisation being asked to do, all the information sharing is great, reading the letter it says the suggestion is that a letter be drafted by the WCC, indicating to the platforms. I'm assuming that is to the fake one, is that what you mean by the platforms that unlicensed sales will be prohibited, I don't think we can prohibit anything, we don't produce registrations. What, exactly we as an organisation being asked to do, what is the outcome that this letter is seeking from WCC.
President, Jan van Rooyen, who do we need to contact, that's the question.
ACF, Judith Jordan is it that we can do, we as an organisation can't prevent these fake people in China doing anything, and it sounds like there's too many of them to write to them all and make a noisy threatening thing, which, in my experience, doesn't work
.So, what exactly are you asking the organisation to do, I think a good thing would be that WCC publishes a statement that we can all put on our websites, some of this other information that has been raised is great too and should be shared back home with our registries. But I'm just trying to work out what exactly we've been asked to do as an organisation.
FIFe, Annette Sjodin, the main thing is for everyone to know what is going on, and the possibility to contact each other to check these things.
I would also like to inform you that in Europe, you buy a cat, and seller asks do you want a WCF pedigree, or do you want a FIFe pedigree, this is also happening in Europe, not only in China.
President, Jan van Rooyen, the only thing that we can do now from WCC is to publish a statement on the WCC website and send it to each member to put on their website, to make people more aware of this, speak to the people who manage your offices. They need to be aware that these things are out there and if they suspect something, try to contact the right people.
TICA, Vicki Jo Harrison, these entities here, is it the same as the Ragdoll issue, or are there other breeds?
FIFe, Sara Moroni, other breeds.
TICA, Vicki Jo Harrison, this is a huge problem.
CFA, Pam Delabar, the most recent was the Ragdoll.
TICA, Danny Nevarez, I just want to understand, I agree it is not just in China, it is everywhere. There are two types of fraud, there are people that will literally build a website, give it a cattery name that is registered with a recognised registry, sell cats, produce their own pedigree and put the logo that anyone can get off the internet out there.
Are we talking about people who join a registry, potentially become a member and then produce pedigrees. If TICA registers a litter, five cats in the litter, and then sell those kittens with a pedigree. How would you know, that is what I amt trying to understand.
GCCF, Steve Crow, using data that they have stolen to create fake pedigrees outside of the system, and from parents and grandparents when they are not what.
FIFe, Sara Moroni, it is a new issue. I don't know if this is worldwide what we discovered in these Ragdolls. Kittens are born from a different lineage, some cattery names, and lineages are more prestigious or perceived as such. These cats are sold for an incredibly high cost. To have such lineage in your own pedigree would be more profitable, so you cannot say that you are son of Angelus, really, but maybe your grandmother or great grandmother. They don't fake the parents, but they somehow modify the pedigree, we discovered through some Polish FIFe breeders, that some of their cats which had been neutered, in such registries, they were there as parents of offsprings 10 or 15 years later.
A cat, born in 2001 cannot still be active, that is how it was discovered.
Secretary, Robbie Walker, WCC is suggesting that all kitten buyers check with the registry of origin prior buying from a breeder.
President, Jan van Rooyen, we will leave it to Robbie, he will get people to assist and send it to us for approval Thank you, Anneliese and Fabrice for bringing this to the table, it is certainly a big issue.
Action: Secretary to draft statement to go on the WCC website and member body websites, to be approved by the board.
NZCF, Ngaire Dixon, that was good discussion. I have been asked by our registrars to bring up another point of discussion in general business. The question relates to the names of cats, and it relates to the fact that we are getting a lot of imports, the same as South Africa.
Our rules and regulation, does not allow the name of a cat to be changed, our registrars have asked for input from other WCC members to determine if any other registry are having challenges.
We see challenges in several different places, firstly, there are registries that allow symbols in the names of cats, so numbers and symbols. Secondly, we see cats coming in with a TICA pedigree, which has the colour code on the end of the name, when we follow our rules and regulations, it means that the colour code becomes part of the name. Obviously, it is a problem for us, we are seeing some cats coming in from overseas registries because of the way things are put in brackets. We are looking at changing our rules and regulations to ensure that the names of cats can be quite simplified. But our registrars have asked, is anybody else having this issue or this problem, and any suggestions as to how it can be dealt with in an easy way?
President, Jan van Rooyen, firstly, I don't think one organisation can change the name of another one. So, if an organisation has Richard III the third or whatever in the name, we need to deal with it that way and do the same. SACC does allow the cattery which imported the cat to have their cattery name added as a suffix. NZCF, Ngaire Dixon, is this in brackets?
President, Jan van Rooyen, it says of ……… and put Imp “NZ” in brackets after the name to identify that it was imported.
NZCF, Ngaire Dixon, what would happen if that cat then came to New Zealand the name of that cat would then potentially, because it would have of the cattery name, which potentially would go over our 30-letter limit that we've got on the name of the cat.
President, Jan van Rooyen, you mean a cat imported to South Africa now goes to New Zealand, I think then you can remove that. You can remove that part of the ending.
NZCF, Ngaire Dixon, in our registry you cannot because that part of the name, I get that is a problem. Are there other registries that are having challenges with the suffix.
CFA, Pam Delabar, the suffix is a living thing, it shows who has the cat at that time, if they put anything before that subject, that is the permanent thing.
Our main job is providing a history of cats through registration, and we need to make sure that we communicate with each other, so we know the practices that go on.
President, Jan van Rooyen, is this another action point for each one member to send their rules regarding changing the name or adding a suffix, in which case it is allowed or not allowed in your association, you send it to Robbie, and anyone can use it for referencing further. Robbie, I don't want to put a date on that, but at some stage, can we just remind delegates by this time, the feedback of the rules, how we do, how we deal with changing names or adding suffixes and all that.
Action: WCC member body’s to send their rules regarding changing the name or adding a suffix to the WCC Secretary
13. Matters Arising from the Open Meeting
Nil, Seminar and Open meeting was not held prior to the Business meeting.
14. WCC future meetings
a. 2026 GCCF, Liverpool, United Kingdom
GCCF, Steve Crow, 23 to 27 April 2026
President, Jan van Rooyen, Steve and Anna, you will keep us updated with progression reports.
b. 2027
TICA, Vicki Jo Harrison,
c. 2028
FIFe, will take it back to the board for discussion
16. Close of Meeting
The President closed the meeting 1400.
Jan van Rooyen – WCC President
Annette Sjodin – WCC Vice President/Delegate for FIFe
Robbie Walker – WCC Secretary/Treasurer
Judith Jordan (Delegate for ACF)
Tracey Camp (Delegate for CCCA)
Pam Delabar (Delegate for CFA)
Steve Crow (Delegate for GCCF)
Ngaire Dixon (Delegate for NZCF)
Johan van Rooyen (Delegate for SACC)
Vicki Jo Harrison (Delegate for TICA)
Anneliese Hackmann (Delegate for WCF)
