|
| all news articles | by topics |
|
news
articles about singapore's wild places
|
|
Today Online 4 May
05 Taming the pet industry by Patricia Yap patricia@newstoday.com.sg Online petition started in hopes of keeping checks on pet shops LAST year alone, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) received 717 complaints of animal abuse. Although this figure is about 12 per cent lower than the previous year, the number of complaints against pet shops rose significantly by 57 per cent from 2003 to 2004. Of the 347 cases relating to animal welfare reported to the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) last year, the majority involved pets and animals sold in pet shops, said Dr Leow Su Hua, the head of AVA's Animal Welfare Education Branch. Common complaints against pet shops included dirty conditions, overcrowding and insufficient drinking water for the animals. "Many of the cases were a result of ignorance and neglect rather than the outright abuse of an animal," Dr Leow said. Every time the SPCA receives a complaint relating to a pet shop, it will send volunteers to the shop to verify the charges, before reporting the genuine cases to AVA. Of the 96 complaints against pet shops the SPCA received last year, 55 were passed on to the AVA. The AVA will then counsel the pet shop licensee on the proper care of the animals and issue him a warning. AVA officers will also carry out follow-up inspections to ensure that their recommendations have been followed. Regulatory action will be taken on subsequent breaches. But animal lover Ms Tania De Rozario wants to do more. The 24-year-old artist is convinced that the problem of animal abuse boils down to the fact that the pet industry is essentially self-regulatory and that pet stores' commercial interests often clash with the animals' welfare. She has started a project cum online petition titled "Putting Pet Stores to Sleep" . Through her website and mass emails, she calls on Singaporeans to play an active role in helping to regulate the industry by going to pet stores and posing as potential customers. This way, they can check that AVA regulations are being observed with regards to the living conditions of the animals, and the pet shop's point-of-sale education to the customer on the commitments that come with having a pet. The website (www.angelfire.com/rebellion2/stoptheabuse) provides a checklist of things to look out for in pet shops, AVA's toll-free number, as well as an offer to help interested parties locate the pet shops in their area. Ms De Rozario also set up an online petition objecting to Singapore's pet trade being a self-regulating industry. Launched on Mar 22, the petition asks for certain regulations to be enforced. For example, she suggests that laws be changed to ensure that the dimensions of cages in pet stores are at least doubled. She also suggests that potential pet owners sign an official contract before they buy a pet, so that they know the responsibilities they would be taking on. If they breach the contract, they would be punishable by law. At press time, 219 signatures had been collected. Ms De Rozario's online petition can be found at www.petitiononline.com/karenin/petition.html . She told Today: "AVA has no means of checking every single pet shop that they issue licences to because that would require a lot of manpower." . "I hope that with this project, people will become more aware of what goes on behind pet shops and actively check on them," she said. "This way, pet shops would be under constant surveillance by the public and they would be forced to take proper care of the animals." Ms De Rozario embarked on this project after watching on helplessly as her two former housemates mistreated their husky and Jack Russell terrier. Her housemates had crammed both dogs into a single cage without water for hours at a time, to ensure that the dogs would not make a mess of the house. Once, she was kept awake the whole night because one of the dogs howled non-stop to be let out of the cage. Ms De Rozario, whose advice to her housemates fell on deaf ears, lodged a complaint with the AVA and moved out eventually. Although Ms De Rozario's project might help keep pet shops in check, more needs to be done, said another animal lover, Dr Tan Chek Wee. The 49-year-old wants AVA to work with all the animal welfare organisations in Singapore to come up with protocols to screen people who want to set up pet farms and pet shops, and protocols regarding the sale and adoption of pets. He said: "If there is no way to end the pet industry, then it must be strictly regulated." links Related articles on Singapore: animal release into our wild places impact, issues, efforts, discussions |
| News articles are reproduced for non-profit educational purposes. | |
website©ria tan 2003 www.wildsingapore.com |