NEO CHAI CHIN Today Online 27 Mar 16;
SINGAPORE — The Agri-food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) is investigating the case of 18 small dogs being abandoned across the island, seemingly by a single person who still has more than 30 other dogs in his care.
The individual, a middle-aged man, on Friday (March 25) met Mr Derrick Tan, president of animal welfare group Voices For Animals (VFA), which had picked up some of the dogs that were left in Yishun, Tampines and other areas.
Mr Tan said the man claimed to be “facing a crisis where the authorities wanted him to remove the animals”. He left the dogs in areas where he hoped people would take the animals in.
Mr Tan would be seeing the remaining dogs in the man’s care on Saturday before deciding how to proceed.
“Just now when we met him, he was emotional. He said he didn’t want to do it. Some of the dogs were not his, (others) had boarded the dogs with him and didn’t come back for the dogs,” Mr Tan said. “For now, we give him the benefit of the doubt.”
The dogs taken in by VFA and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) include poodles and malteses estimated to be between 1 and 10 years old.
They had skin problems and long nails. The unusually high number prompted both organisations to post on Facebook, with VFA wondering on Thursday if a “dumping session” was taking place.
SPCA acting executive director Jaipal Singh Gill said it alerted the AVA on Thursday after seeing a pattern that suggested the dogs were abandoned by the same person who was potentially breeding them.
“I think we need to have an investigation into this person and how he was keeping the dogs,” he said, adding that the man should be brought to justice if any wrongdoing is found.
The dogs with VFA are currently at Sunny Heights dog day-care centre, where Mr Tan works, and will be up for adoption at VFA’s adoption drive next weekend.
If VFA rescues the remaining dogs, they will be split between its premises at Pasir Ris Farmway and Sunny Heights, said Mr Tan.
