Meet SMRT staff’s ‘Big Boss’: Cassidy, the 3-legged cat

SINGAPORE – It is common to scroll through SMRT’s social media pages and find posts about its buses and trains, service announcements and even features on its employees.

Of late, an “employee” of a different kind – one some called the “Big Boss” – has made it to its accounts.

Meet Cassidy, a three-legged cat which has been at Kim Chuan Depot since 2008. Its name is derived from the depot’s initials – KCD, though its caregivers are not sure who gave the feline the name.

It started appearing on SMRT’s Instagram page in August, around the same time as a social media trend where children appear in “accidental selfies” on official accounts.

SMRT then followed up with two photo features on Cassidy’s backstory.

Cassidy’s posts have garnered more than 8,000 likes and over 90 comments, with some ex-employees reminiscing about their time with it.

“Miss those days with you when i work at smrt. Miss give you treats every night,” one netizen said.

The community cat is well-liked by employees at the depot, a facility near the Tai Seng MRT station that serves both trains and buses, with 10 people there taking turns to care for and feed it before it lost a leg in an accident, said Daniel Siew, one of its caregivers.

The 52-year-old engineering maintenance manager said, in an interview on Oct 12, that Cassidy used to watch staff clocking in and out of the office. This behaviour earned Cassidy the nickname of “Big Boss” among employees.

The feline was choosy about its companions though, said Zanna Lee, a current caregiver, who added that she did not interact with Cassidy before its accident.

The cat’s life changed drastically on the morning of April 12, when it was found in a pool of blood outside the KCD compound.

No one saw what happened, but Siew said he received a call from his team about Cassidy’s accident.

“It was really a very frightening experience,” he said.

Trips to the vet and a few operations for Cassidy – including amputating a shattered leg – cost $30,000 in total, with employees at the depot and beyond chipping in.

Lee, 50, then volunteered to nurse Cassidy back to health, shuttling it between her home and the depot, where it continues to roam on the days when she is back in the office.

“I’m an animal lover myself, and my place is quite cat-proof because I help my sister take care of her cats when she’s not around. So why not give it a try?” the senior manager in plans and resource management said.

Cassidy’s accident has brought Siew and his colleagues closer together, he said.

“After Cassidy’s accident, colleagues from different departments came together because we wanted to help with his care and recovery,” he said.

“In the process, we had more opportunities to interact with colleagues whom we may not usually work closely with, and Cassidy became a common connection among us.”

The SMRT staff who donated towards Cassidy’s care are kept updated on its recovery progress and the “naughty things” that it has been up to through a 160-strong chat group hosted on Microsoft Teams.

“He brings us together, even staff who have never seen him before,” said Lee.

“We could see his journey of recovery to become Cassidy again.”