The Electric New Paper :
Dumping of pets
Ban sale of animals to be kept as pets
28 May 2009
I REFER to the report 'Pet owners dump dogs on Ubin' (The New Paper, 25 May).
Such pet owners are very irresponsible and definitely oblivious to the feelings of animals.
As the owner of two lovely dogs, I am concerned at the way these owners treat their pets.
I appeal to the relevant authorities to consider imposing a ban on the sale of animals to be kept as pets.
The authorities have to address the root of the problem, which is the easy availability of pets.
People who still want to own pets will have the choice of adopting from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).
The least the authorities can do is to introduce tougher rules and regulations on the sale of pets and have a monitoring system on all pet owners.
Singapore's chewing gum problem was solved thanks to the ban on the sale of all chewing gum.
Why can't the same ban be applied to the sale of pets?
Is it because they are only animals and hence not considered important?
Between July 2007 and June last year, 9,328 animals - cats, dogs, rabbits and hamsters - were left at the SPCA.
Of this number, more than 3,000 were dogs. And among abandoned dogs, over half were pedigree dogs.
What is the rationale behind complaining year after year that the abandonment of pets are rising?
There is no point trying to spread messages to pet owners to be responsible as some of them will never listen.
A lot of them give in to their kids' wish of owning a pet. Once the children get bored of the pets, they don't think twice about discarding them.
This is just one of the many reasons for pets being abandoned here.
I hope the authorities put in more effort to address the problem.
I also hope that more people will consider this idea and give feedback to the relevant authorities to impose the ban, or revise the rules and regulations for buying and owning a pet.
FROM READER MR SOMAN S/O PALANISAMY
