Wanted: Homes abroad for strays

Adoption numbers are at an all-time low, forcing group to look overseas for takers
Tan Dawn Wei, Straits Times 23 Aug 09;

In June, American Amy Ferber got an e-mail from a friend in Singapore asking if she would like to adopt a stray dog from Singapore.

She was surprised at the idea.

Having lived in Singapore with her family for two years before she moved back to the United States four years ago, she knew that this would be an expensive and tedious process involving export permits and flight, among other things.

But she was won over by the story of how the three-year-old brown and white mongrel, Lilly, had been rescued by animal welfare group Action For Singapore Dogs (ASD) from a construction site near Leisure Park Kallang.

Last month, Lilly took a flight as excess baggage checked in by a volunteer traveller en route to New York on business. Ms Ferber's sister then drove the dog to Ms Ferber's farmhouse in rural Massachusetts.

She joins Ms Ferber's three other dogs, two teenage daughters and husband, and enjoys twice-daily romps, leash-free, in the orchard around the house.

'The US is a big country with lots of open space and Singapore is a small, urban country which necessarily has to place limits on the number of animals in people's homes,' said Ms Ferber, a psychotherapist who works for a hospice.

'It makes more sense to find homes outside Singapore, and focus efforts on spay and neuter efforts there to keep the number of unwanted animals to a minimum.'

Lilly is the first dog to be successfully re-homed under ASD's new international adoption programme, Singapore Specials Overseas.

With adoption numbers at an all-time low in the past year, the nine-year-old volunteer outfit, which rescues and re-homes stray or abandoned dogs, has had to look outside Singapore.

In the past year, it has not managed to find new homes for more than two to three dogs a month.

Some months go by with no adoptions. It takes in about five strays a month now as its adoption and rescue centre is full. The group, which has a no-kill policy, has some 100 dogs up for adoption.

'It has been a bad year... It is really out of desperation that we are exploring this. It is another avenue to getting homes for these rescued dogs,' said ASD president Ricky Yeo.

The programme - believed to be the first of its kind here - took off with the help of an expatriate volunteer, Ms Sherry Conisbee, who founded another animal welfare group, Soi Cats And Dogs (SCAD), when she was living in Bangkok up until two years ago.

When she could not find anyone to adopt a dog she rescued in 2002, her niece in the US suggested looking there.

Since then, the Bangkok outfit has been sending an average of 20 dogs a year to the US.

Said Ms Conisbee, a British native now based in Singapore with her husband: 'Everyone asks, haven't they got dogs over there? Yes, but it is the same reason people will adopt children or causes which aren't necessarily at their own doorstep. They recognise lives of strays in South-east Asia are pretty bad.'

It was a friend of Ms Conisbee's friend who had contacted Ms Ferber.

Bangkok has an estimated 300,000 street dogs, while Singapore has between 5,000 and 8,000.

Dogs under the new programme could either be directly adopted by an overseas family or go to a foster network which will find a home for them.

They will undergo socialisation and crate training for between two weeks and a month to prepare them for the hours they have to spend in crates on the plane.

ASD will then look for travellers bound for major cities in the US and Europe who will volunteer to take the dogs as check-in baggage.

All it took for Lilly was an export permit from the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority, a health certificate from a veterinarian, a rabies vaccination and a volunteer traveller.

Her air journey cost ASD $300. Dogs bound for the US and the Netherlands, where ASD now has adoption networks, are also not required to be quarantined as Singapore is rabies-free.

Despite the extra work involved, international adoptions make sense. 'Keeping a dog in our adoption centre long-term and waiting for an adopter will take more than $300, which typically is what it will cost to maintain a dog for about two to three months,' said Mr Yeo.

ASD plans to send out at least one dog a month for a start, while actively expanding its network of foreign partners.

Next on the list is Kiwi, a stray dog whose hind paw was severed after it got caught in an illegal trap in Lim Chu Kang two months ago.

The three-legged dog, whose plight was reported in The Straits Times, is destined for a shelter in Seattle which has agreed to take her and put her up for adoption there.

Mr Yeo said Western countries are more receptive to 'imperfect' dogs, unlike in Singapore, where Kiwi's prospects of getting adopted are small.

ASD is ramping up its fund-raising efforts to cater to this programme, which will cost $40,000, next year. It is also looking for volunteer travellers bound for Boston, New York, Seattle or Amsterdam.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the largest animal welfare organisation here, said it has no plans to follow in ASD's footsteps.

'For us, we prefer to meet the people, counsel them and follow up if necessary,' said its executive officer, Ms Deirdre Moss, adding that its adoption centre in Mount Vernon Road sees high human traffic.

Lilly has proven to be such a fine ambassador for Singapore dogs that Ms Ferber plans to train her as a therapy dog.

'We intend on reciprocating with an open door for more Singapore dogs and doing everything we are able to from this end to enable more dogs to find happy homes with families in the US,' she said.

No guarantee that strays sent abroad will find good homes
Straits Times 30 Aug 09;

I refer to last Sunday's report, 'Wanted: Homes abroad for strays'.

Sending a dog abroad to be adopted does not ensure that the dog will be loved and well cared for there.

How will the house checks be done? How can you ensure that the dog will not be abandoned, or end up spending the rest of its life in another shelter abroad?

Does the country not have its own strays? Why help others when it probably faces the same pet abandonment issues at home?

Why does animal welfare group Action For Singapore Dogs (ASD) have to raise $40,000 to send more strays abroad?

Should the onus not be on the new family to pay to adopt a pet?

We all know that pets, like other items, are valued more when one has to pay for them.

Does it not make sense for the new adoptive family to make a payment or donation to ASD in exchange for adopting the stray?

With the donation, ASD would then be able to help and rescue more strays, rather than spend time raising funds.

Chew Annie (Mdm)

Screening, adoption fees part of scheme to rehome strays abroad
Straits Times 6 Sep 09;

I refer to Madam Annie Chew's letter last Sunday, 'No guarantee that strays sent abroad will find good homes'.

On behalf of Action for Singapore Dogs (ASD), I wish to respond regarding the launch of our overseas adoption programme, which aims to find homes in the United States and Europe for strays which we are unable to rehome locally.

Had Madam Chew checked with us first before writing in, we could have put her mind at rest.

The organisations and foster networks we work with all have sterling reputations and good track records in the area of adoptions, and follow the strict no-kill policy that we adhere to.

Screening of potential adopters such as house checks and references will be carried out as standard procedure, and adoptive families will get to meet the dogs ahead of any commitment.

All parties involved are constantly in touch through e-mail and photos even past the adoption stage.

Adoption fees are required, equivalent to those levied in shelters overseas, and the amount is actually more than in Singapore.

The $40,000 ASD needs is actually used for the strays, to cover the costs of the rescue, veterinary treatment, sterilisation, vaccinations, shelter and the procedural costs and flight to the destination country.

There can never be any guarantee that strays will find good homes in Singapore either.

Ironically, the 'Singapore Special' is not warmly received by the local population, and even with the few good families that eventually adopt, we do get a 20per cent to 30per cent return rate due to various circumstances.

At the same time, many adoptions of these mixed-breed puppies are handled by individual rehomers without adequate pre-adoption checks and follow-ups.

The biggest battle is that homes are hard to find in Singapore, where 80per cent of our population live in HDB housing with restrictions that do not allow ownership of a 15kg to 20kg mid-sized 'Singapore Special'.

There are still an estimated 5,000 to 8,000 strays out there, and we cannot shelter and rehome them all.

While ASD strives to find loving homes locally and overseas, the only long-term solution is a cooperative collaboration between the Government and non-governmental organisations, careful changes to the current HDB rules to allow these dogs into such homes and a humane sterilisation programme for the strays, which will eventually lead to a stray-free Singapore

Ricky Yeo
President
Action for Singapore Dogs Society