A sickly 12-year-old pomeranian was dumped by her owners near the Chomp Chomp food centre, but brings to light similar cases of animal abandonment. -TNP
Fri, Sep 17, 2010
The New Paper
By Elysa Chen
IT WAS old, blind and suffering from cancer.
After spending most of her life giving joy and companionship to her owners, the 12-year-old pomeranian was unceremoniously thrown out of the back seat of a car by the side of a busy road.
A woman saw the dog being dumped near Chomp Chomp Food Centre, but was so stunned that she didn't note down the car's licence plate number.
Recalling the 2007 incident, Mr Ricky Yeo, 42, president of Action for Singapore Dogs (ASD), said: "Flora was in a daze after she was abandoned. She was blind, so she couldn't have gone anywhere."
"She was left by the side of a busy road and could have been hit by a car."
Other dogs remain in the same spot thinking their owners will come back for them, Mr Yeo added.
ASD, a non-profit organisation which takes in stray and abandoned dogs, was alerted to the discarded pomeranian by the witness.
Flora's foster owner, Mrs Yvonne Tan, 39, a supervisor at the ASD adoption and rescue centre, said: "She was so scared, she kept shivering."
"When I take her downstairs for walks and some fresh air, she would be scared of vehicle sounds."
Flora, who was also suffering from gum infection, had to have her teeth pulled out.
She also had two operations to treat her cancer.
The veterinarian gave her only six months to live, yet Flora is doing well.
Mr Yeo said: "She's a feisty, plucky dog. She has a strong will to live."
Other cases
Recent cases of animal abuse here have thrown the spotlight on how pets are treated.
In a recent forum post, a groomer described how the owner of a miniature schnauzer sent the dog to her pet shop for grooming, but left fake contact details and did not return for his pet.
The post has since been taken down and attempts to reach the groomer have failed.
Pet shop owners and dog obedience trainers said that abandonment cases are common, with ASD handling about two or three a week.
The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) said that last year, 1,772 dogs and 2,681 cats were impounded.
Miss Claire Heng, 32, a pet care specialist at K9 Boarding School, said she has come across cases of people using umbrellas to shield their faces from CCTV cameras when they intend to abandon their dogs there.
Recalling a dog who was abandoned near Christmas last year, Ms Heng said: "The next morning, the dog was shivering because it wasout in the rain."
Mr Owen Sim, 42, who owns Best Friends Doggy and Kitty Salon, said that owners often ditch animals at pet shops because they think the pet shop would be able to sell them.
He once discovered a box of three kittens just two or three days old left outside his shop.
Two weeks ago, Madam Patricia Chen, 38, a civil servant, took in a shih tzu that was hit by a taxi.
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The dog, which was suffering from badly infected ears, kidney stones and skin disease, had been wandering around the Yishun area.
Madam Chen also suspects that the dog, which the vet she took it to said was about 10 years old, has cancer because of the lumps all over his body.
"It's clear that the owners neglected him terribly," she added.
Mr Yeo said that a cross-breed terrier, which he estimates to be seven years old - judging from his teeth and pigmentation - and suffering from tick fever, was left in his garden in February.
He said: "A teenage couple had tracked down my residential address because I listed it as the address for ASD. They checked with my neighbours if my home was the place, then left the dog in my garden with a chicken wing."
When he tracked down the couple by tracing the calls made to the organisation's hotline number, they claimed they had found the dog in a coffee shop in Tampines.
"As the dog was not micro-chipped, we couldn't tell if they were telling the truth," said Mr Yeo, who is still caring for the canine which he has named Jar Jar because he is shaped like a jar.
Mr Yeo, who also runs a boarding service at the pet rescue centre in Lim Chu Kang, is so cautious that he asks owners who leave dogs at the kennel for their identification cards.
He also calls their mobile phones to ensure that they have not provided fake details.
Ms Deirdre Moss, executive officer of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' (SPCA), felt that the cases of abandonment could be linked to how easily people can buy pets.
Ms Moss added: "It's too easy to buy a pet on a whim, and once the novelty wears off, owners find that they do not have the time to look after their pets."
Pet abandonment is considered an act of animal cruelty. If convicted, offenders can be fined $10,000 and jailed a year.
This article was first published in The New Paper.
