They call it puppy love
Smuggled chihuahua, put up for adoption by AVA, draws 23 eager suitors
Samantha Eng, Straits Times 27 Apr 08;
Who wants to adopt a smuggled chihuahua? Twenty-three people did, said the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA).
The two-month-old male pooch's new owner got it for free, but it had cost the original owner more than $10,000.
On April 16, student Liu Liangwu, 21, was fined $10,000, the maximum penalty for importing an animal without a licence.
He had paid more than $600 for it in Johor and tried to smuggle it through the Woodlands Checkpoint on Dec 24 last year.
The dog was found when his car was searched.
The court ruled that he could not keep the puppy, and it was handed over to the AVA for quarantine.
AVA spokesman Goh Shih Yong told The Sunday Times last Friday that the pup was healthy, and had been microchipped and vaccinated for rabies.
When it was put up for adoption, 23 people expressed an interest. 'We placed them through a selection process to choose the best owner for the puppy,' Mr Goh said.
This included an interview and a check of the would-be owner's home before the dog was released.
It was adopted and licensed last Friday.
The AVA did not want to say who the pooch's new owner was.
On the severity of Liu's offence, the AVA said that rabies, which can start from an infected dog, is fatal to both humans and animals.
Said Mr Goh: 'You need only one infected dog smuggled into the country to cause an outbreak of rabies.'
Liu could not be reached for comment.
sameng@sph.com.sg
Former NKF chairman Richard Yong misses the dog he left behind when he fled Singapore
Ge Ge, I miss you.
The shih-tzu which belonged to former National Kidney Foundation (NKF) chairman Richard Yong has since been adopted by someone else.
Now, Yong, who was a fugitive from the law but has come back, hopes to contact Ge Ge's owner so he can say hello to his former pet.
He told The Sunday Times: 'Now that I'm out of prison, I really want to know where Ge Ge is. She was very close to me and my wife.'
Yong, 66, fled with his wife last May when he was declared a bankrupt for failing to pay nearly $1 million to NKF after losing a civil suit.
He was caught by Hong Kong police on July 4 last year and sent back.
He was sentenced to 15 months' jail in September. Due to good behaviour, he was released and has been placed on the Home Detention scheme since Jan 10 this year.
He is currently employed in the office of a Chinese restaurant.
Apart from cash, a car and property which he left behind when he fled, Ge Ge was found in his Cavenagh Gardens apartment, looked after by a maid.
About a month after Yong fled, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) went to the flat to pick up the dog. This was after the Filipino maid said she wanted to return home.
SPCA spokesman Deirdre Moss declined to reveal where the dog is now. 'All I can say is that it has already been adopted,' she said last week.
When contacted, an amiable Yong insisted that he never meant to abandon his dog of five years.
'When we left, we asked the maid to look after Ge Ge because we will be back,' he said.
He added he would dearly love to see Ge Ge, whose name means princess in Mandarin.
He said: 'If her current owners are good to her, it wouldn't be fair to ask for her back now.'
When asked whether he loved his dog, he replied: 'Of course I do.'
Samantha Eng
Did you adopt Ge Ge and would like Richard Yong to see her? Let us know by e-mailing suntimes@sph.com.sg and we will arrange a meeting
Quarantine needed for pets from most countries
Elysa Chen, New Paper 27 Apr 08;
ONLY a small number of people have been caught trying to smuggle in pets over the last three years, said the Agri-food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA). Most bring them in legally, said a spokesman.
Student Liu Liangwu, 21, was slapped with a $10,000 fine this month for trying to smuggle a two-month-old chihuahua puppy into Singapore from Johor last December.
AVA said that in each of the past three years, about 3,000 dogs and 800 cats were imported.
It costs close to $1,000 a month to quarantine a dog in an air-conditioned kennel, and around $600 a month if you opt for a non-air-conditioned kennel. Quarantine is mandatory if you bring in a dog or cat from most countries.
Mr Douglas Ng, 49, co-owner of Soo Kee Kennel, feels there are more pet imports now because pet owners are asking for animals bred by professionals overseas, or for breeds not readily available here.
The most commonly imported dogs include golden retrievers, labradors, cavalier king charles spaniels, shetland sheepdogs, yorkshire terriers, mini dachshunds and beagles.
Pet shops and animal import companies The New Paper spoke to said there was no need to smuggle animals into Singapore.
Liu's explanation for trying to smuggle the chihuahua was that he could not find one in Singapore.
But Mr Ng, who has kept a chihuahua, said the dogs are available in Singapore, though he conceded that 'if you want those as young as two months, it will be harder'.
He explained: 'When the puppies are that young, if they skip a meal, they get so weak they cannot stand up. That is why we have a regulation in Singapore that the dogs which are imported must be at least three months old.'
Although Mr Ng felt the $10,000 fine was steep, he felt it was justified, considering the seriousness of the offence.
He said: 'A $10,000 fine is a lot, but every country is very particular about the animals that go in and out of it. Dogs are not like bak kwa (barbecued pork), you can't just bring them in like that.'
Ms Germane Can, the daughter of the founder of Mitchville K-9 Kennels, an animal import/export company, said: 'We feel for the pets. If you really love the animal, spend the money and bring it in legally. You need to have commitment towards the animal. Don't buy a dog just because it's cute or it's cheap.'
Mitchville has been running for 25 years and imports on average 20 animals a month.
It charges $400 to $600 for import and export services.
PAINLESS PROCEDURE
Mrs Judith Gray, a British housewife who moved to Singapore with her husband in February, got the help of Mitchville to bring her pets over.
She said: 'It was quite painless, all I had to do was provide them with the documents they needed, like the certificates from the vets.'
She spent about $8,000 to bring in their three dogs from Bangkok where they had been living.
She admitted that they had thought of driving in through Malaysia with their dogs, but not because of the cost.
Mrs Gray said: 'We're so crazy about our animals, we sleep with them on our bed. When we realised that we would have to spend 30 days apart from them, we had a fleeting thought to smuggle them in.'
Then she added with a laugh: 'But of course, we dismissed it quickly because we didn’t want to spend time in Changi Prison!'
Most bring pets into Singapore legally: AVA
New Paper 27 Apr 08;
How to bring your cat or dog to S'pore
No quarantine necessary for dog or cat from Australia, New Zealand, UK or Ireland, if all veterinary regulations are complied with and animals are healthy on arrival
27 April 2008
# No quarantine necessary for dog or cat from Australia, New Zealand, UK or Ireland, if all veterinary regulations are complied with and animals are healthy on arrival
# Thirty days quarantine for dogs or cats from all other countries
# Book quarantine space at Sembawang Animal Quarantine Station
# Quarantine charges for non air-conditioned kennel/cattery - $643 per pet for 30 days
# $926.50 per pet for air-conditioned kennel/cattery
# Charges cover accommodation, transport, veterinary examination and rabies vaccination
# Owners need to reserve at least two months ahead
# AVA will confirm availability of quarantine space one month before date of arrival of pet
# Owner can apply for import permit at AVA website, www.ava.gov.sg
# Cost of permit - $50, valid for 30 days from date of issue
# For details, go to AVA website and see 'Pets - Personal' under 'Import, Export & Transshipment of Animals & Related Products'
