The Straits Times
ST Forum
April 17, 2009
Stop live animal sales, urge activists
I REFER to last Saturday's article, 'Supermarkets go live', which describes how the sale of live animals like razor clams, soft-shell turtles and eels is becoming increasingly common in Singapore.
This is a disheartening trend; such practices have serious environmental, ecological and ethical disadvantages. We would like to draw the attention of retailers and consumers to these issues.
The humane slaughter of animals is a carefully regulated process, but with the widespread sale of live animals in supermarkets, it becomes increasingly difficult to monitor and enforce these regulations.
While regulatory efforts are in place, there is no guarantee of humane killing of these animals.
Even where slaughtering practices abide by the guidelines, the conditions these animals are kept in are often overcrowded and unclean. Hence, the SPCA has appealed to the authorities since 2001 to stop unregulated slaughter, and relies on public feedback to aid its efforts.
Increased sales of exotic animals such as soft-shell turtles and razor clams also increase the total volume of live animals imported into Singapore.
While the animals currently imported are not endangered or threatened species, the growth in international trade of animals certainly paves the path for more 'exotic' and possibly endangered types of animals to be brought in. According to WWF-World Wide Fund for Nature, this would encourage the illegal wildlife trade, threatening more species with extinction.
Demand for and sale of live animals are also environmentally and economically unsustainable. Exotic seafood is flown in from numerous countries, including Myanmar, Norway, Australia and Canada. The ecological footprint of these exotic foods is therefore high. Consuming such food regularly has a negative environmental impact in the long run. Local businesses like wet markets are also suffering due to rising demand for imported exotic seafood.
Sale and consumption of live seafood pose ethical, environmental and economic problems beyond the initial impression of having a convenient source of fresh seafood. It is important to teach values of conservation and respect for nature in future generations.
If this worrying trend continues, it is likely that society will become increasingly desensitised to practices such as exploitation of exotic animal species, and cruelty to animals.
With this letter, we wish to stress the importance of shopping responsibly to minimise the negative impact of our choices.
Howard Shaw
on behalf of Singapore Environment Council, Animal Concerns Research and Education Society, WWF-World Wide Fund for Nature (Singapore) and Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
