The Electric New Paper :
Concerned about what goes on at pet farms
23 August 2009
I REFER to the report 'Is this the work of irresponsible dog breeders?' (The New Paper, 21 Jun).
I was appalled by the sight of abandoned pedigrees in the article.
I am a animal lover myself and am a regular volunteer at some of the pet farms, taking care of the cats, along Pasir Ris Farmway.
Although it wasn't confirmed that the dogs mentioned in the article were from any of the farms there, I am concerned about what goes on in most pet farms here and the quality of service that they provide for boarders.
I was recently at the Ericsson Pet Farm at Pasir Ris Farmway.
I was helping out there when the water supply was shut off.
When I asked, I was told that the management had started a practice of shutting off the water supply to boarders from noon to 5pm.
The reason given by the management was that they had allegedly received a complaint from SP Services claiming that the waste from the farm was clogging up the sewage system.
And should the matter persist, the farm could be fined.
What puzzles me is why this would be an issue as waste is supposed to end up in the sewage system anyway.
It's disturbing to know that the farm chose to shut down the water supply during a very hot period of the day.
Even during the afternoon that I was there, I could see that many of the animals were either listless or agitated because of the heat.
That, I believe, eventually resulted in a dog fight that took place at one of the kennels.
Since the water supply was shut down, the kennel keepers were not able to hose the dogs to separate them.
This leaves me wondering whether such practices of shutting down the water supply on the pet farms is right and practical.
Depriving the animals of water, even for a few hours of the day, is inhumane.
It may be the responsibility of the pet farm to ensure that they have sufficient water rations during the shut down.
FROM READER ZURAIDAH MOHAMED OSMAN
To support Zuraidah,
Write to
DR LOU EK HEE
Job Title : HEAD
DID : 64719995
Email: LOU_EK_HEE@AVA.GOV.SG
Unit: ANIMAL WELFARE REGULATIONS BRANCH (AWRB)
Parent: ANIMAL WELFARE & CONTROL DIVISION (AWCD)
Organisation: AGRI-FOOD & VETERINARY AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE (AVA)
Description:
or New Paper
at
http://tnp.sg/sendmail/0,4137,TalkToUs,00.html
