Lim Pow Hong, Straits Times 3 Oct 09;
NOISY dogs and grouchy monkeys do not amount to animal emergencies.
But even after filtering out minor grievances like these, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) still logged 2,659 emergency calls from July last year to June this year.
Rescuers want more people to understand what it is they do; that is, providing medical attention to injured animals.
SPCA has a team of six officers dealing with such cases. The team operates round the clock and members work nine-hour shifts, with one being on standby at night.
In 2006, SPCA increased the number of officers on duty before 11pm from one to two, so that they can attend to the increasing number of emergency calls they get.
The Straits Times spent a day on the job with SPCA's animal-handling officers. Between 9am and 6pm, they responded to at least seven calls - what they call a 'slow day'.
They picked up a lost dog at an industrial estate in Tai Seng Street and retrieved a baby pigeon in Cantonment Road. At SPCA, a veterinarian assessed the animals' injuries before deciding what to do.
Some trauma cases are fatal. Animal- handling officer Taiagaraja Alagan attended to one call, when a ginger cat was run over in Anchorvale Road. By the time rescuers got there, it was bleeding at the mouth. The veterinarian decided to put it down because its injuries were too severe.
Mr Alagan, 29, said he initially had trouble with such situations. 'The first few times I got quite upset, but now I'm more used to it,' he said of his past three years working with SPCA.
'Even if the animal is dead, I still do not want other cars to run over it.'
SPCA's executive officer Deirdre Moss said that, to really help, hotline callers should provide 'as accurate a description as possible to ensure that the most urgent cases get priority'. An instance of an urgent case is when an animal is in extreme distress and suffering, or when it is sick and unable to move.
As long as an animal is injured, SPCA will respond, and serious cases will be attended to by the veterinarian even at 2am.
SPCA's emergency hotline is 6287-5355 extension 9.
