Abandonment of Pets is a Crime: Please help look for the criminals!

http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/what_bugs_me/1573734/stomper_enraged_at_pic_of_abandoned_halfblind_dog.html#commentSection''

Whoever knows the identity of the person who abandoned this dog please contact www.spca.org.sg

HEARTLESS human who abandoned this pet dog!

Abandonment of pets is a CRIME.

Anyone who knows who the owner is, please make a police report and contact the person (on facebook) who found this dog!

Tia Tan

Follow · Yesterday · 

Allowed on timeline

My tears can't stop flowing. The lady who found the dog asked for my help and I just did a communication session for this poor baby that was abandoned. The sadness was so immense. He is feeling so lost and terrified. It shattered my heart. There wasn't any hatred nor anger. Despite what the owner did to him, there was still SO MUCH love for his owner and is still hoping the owner will come back for him.

I did an automatic writing session for this sweetheart, basically I let him take over me and used me as his tool to write out his feelings.. and this came out...

I used to have a home. Where am i now, what am i doing here?

This morn i woke up thinking its another usual day but it turns out to be the worst day of my life. I am terrified.

I do not know what i did wrong. Why did you leave me here all alone? I pleaded with you not to go, but you ignored my cries. You didn't even turn back to take a second glance as you walked away.

I know i am old, your new love came. I was happy for you even though the new love replaced me. We used to have so much fun together, you would bring me out, we do everything together. But its over now. I can't bring you the happiness that I used to. I'm sorry daddy. I know I am a burden to you.

I didn't used to be sick. I could still remember the day you picked me up from the petshop. I felt so special, so loved. When you went to school, I would wait for you at home. When you graduated, I was there with you. When she left you, I was there by your side while you mend your broken heart. You started work and had even lesser time for me. I didn't mind, as long as I still get to see you everyday. But gradually, you drifted away, you stop coming home frequently. No one cared for me, there are days when I didn't have food. Still I waited by the door, hoping to hear the familiar jingling of the keys, hoping to hear your familiar voice calling out my name, wishing you would scoop me up and kiss me on my head like how you used to do it.

The new love came. I know she doesn't like me. I heard her saying "get rid of that ugly thing". I didn't used to look like this. I can't help it. My eyes were bothering me and my skin itches, I tried to tell you I need help, but you wouldn't even cast a glance my way.

This morning you came back home and carried me up. I can't begin to tell you the joy I felt. My daddy is back home again and I am back in your arms once again. You grab a bag and carried me out of the house.

I thought we were going out like how you used to bring me out last time. We got into the car and I was so happy and excited.

Soon we got off the car, you carried me and walk to this strange place that we have never been to and put me down in a plastic bag. I started to panic, something doesn't feel right. Why are you feeling sad daddy? Is it tears that I see in your eyes?

With these words, "I'm sorry, be good", you turned and walk away and left me all alone.

I am terrified. I didn't dare to move. I kept thinking you will come back for me. I just have to be a good boy and stay here and wait. You will be back for me.

I am still waiting for your daddy. I am sorry I am ugly. I am sorry I can no longer bring you the happiness that I used to.

I love you daddy. I really do. Please bring me home daddy, I promise I'll be a good boy

Cats, like humans, are NOT pests!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151633219326258&set=a.10151633219016258.605992.386374031257&type=1&theater

Handsome Ginger Cat in Balam

'Lim peh' is patrolling and watching 24 hours a day..

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=403990269667590&set=a.326905257376092.78130.100001698606468&type=1&theater
Kitt Cyk @Shannon hong 
"Our shops have been 
Sterilizing the cats in the area
Street cats have an average lifespan of 3 years.
They are animals that love cleanliness by nature.
Some people are dirtier than cats.
After sterilization, cats don't reproduce or caterwaul.
Please allow the cats to live peacefully in the area for the rest of their lives.
STERN WARNING
chasing or hitting street cats is strictly forbidden.
'Lim peh' is patrolling and watching 24 hours a day..."

Cat owners.... remember your cats will always be eternal kids/teenagers.

Cat owners.... remember your cats will always be eternal kids/teenagers... and they always do whatever they want to.....not because you told them to....LOL!!

Marsiling and other residents, we seek your help to join volunteers on Wednesday night 8pm to seek information on a case of suspected abuse.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151182107736065&set=a.481771586064.254313.99555921064&type=1&theater

Cat Welfare Society

Marsiling and other residents, we seek your help to join volunteers on Wednesday night 8pm to seek information on a case of suspected abuse. If you can help, pls contact info@catwelfare.org to be connected to the volunteers.

Top painter saves cat first during blaze

http://www.tnp.sg/content/top-painter-saves-cat-first-during-blaze

January 16, 2013 - 12:49am

By: 

Kerri Heng

TNP PHOTO: Kelvin Chng

As a fire raged, Singapore’s first million-dollar painter made a conscious choice between art and life, and chose life.

Mr Tan Swie Hian, 69, saved a stray cat first instead of his precious paintings when a blaze broke out yesterday at Telok Kurau Studios, an artists’ community.

The 1987 Cultural Medallion winner then returned to retrieve six paintings, which he estimates to be worth about $9 million in all, from his personal collection.

He told The New Paper: “If my house is on fire, I would save the cat. Between life and art, I choose life.”

Last month, Mr Tan's painting, When The Moon Is Orbed, was sold in an auction in Beijing for $3.7 million, the biggest sum paid for a painting by a living Singaporean artist.

Read the full report in The New Paper on Wednesday (Jan 16).

Tags: 

• fire
 
• tan swie hian

Teach students how to treat the environment right

http://www.straitstimes.com/premium/forum-letters/story/teach-students-how-treat-the-environment-right-20130114

Published on Jan 14, 2013

I WAS heartened to read the letters by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ("Good to have animal welfare module in schools: SPCA"; last Thursday) and Mr Winston Chin ("Teach kids about kindness to animals"; last Tuesday) that rightly pointed out the need to teach our younger generation to be kind to and respect animals.

As the SPCA puts it, this is the first step in teaching them empathy and compassion, as well as building moral character and a greater sense of responsibility and civic-mindedness.

I would go one step further and urge the Ministry of Education, during its process of developing the new Character and Citizenship Education syllabus, to consider the possibility of teaching our children the importance of treating our environment in a responsible manner as well, for a more holistic form of education.

Perhaps there could be a "Respect our living environment" module that comprises care for animals and plants, and sustainable living. Sustainable living would teach children ways of living that safeguard the environment, such as how to manage household waste so that most of the refuse can be recycled or used to generate energy.

My friend, who recently left for Sweden for half a year, mentioned that people over there pursued a lifestyle that took great pains to reduce every individual's use of the earth's natural resources. I am inspired by it and I believe that with the right conditions, Singaporeans will be able to achieve this too.

Low Pei Han (Ms)

Pets really do provide health benefits

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10858838

It is often said that pets can be beneficial to human health. Walking a dog certainly can't hurt, but is there any truth to this statement? A number of studies have in fact found that pets have positive effects.

"The dominant research approach for decades was only socio-psychological and examined certain effects of pets on their owners," said Detlev Nolte, general secretary of the Bremen-based research group Pets in Society.

The conclusions were based mainly on surveys and observations, so the findings were not very robust. Gradually, however, scientifically based research approaches have been developed as well, he said.

Ample evidence is now available that pets benefit their owners in many ways. There are physical benefits, for example, one of which is rather obvious but important nonetheless: exercise.

"According to a study by US scientists, 150 minutes of exercise weekly is enough to have a positive effect on the cardiovascular system," noted Ralf Jordan, chief physician at the Cardiac Rehabilitation and Prevention Clinic in Duisburg, Germany.

Dog owners are more likely to reach this number than the dogless.

Studies also show that people who are physically active outdoors daily have a stronger immune system.

"A dog forces you to go outdoors regularly," remarked Udo Kopernik, spokesman for the German Kennel Club. "People who own or look after a horse have to leave their home often, too."

You don't have to step outside to enjoy the health benefits of pets, though.

"It's been proven that the mere presence of animals, and above all petting them, greatly helps to lower blood pressure and heart rate," Jordan said.

The sympathetic nervous system is less active, he said, so the body releases fewer stress hormones such as adrenaline. This applies less to goldfish than to dogs, cats and other domesticised animals.

"A number of scientists have also found that physical activity has a beneficial effect on chronic illnesses like diabetes, cancer, hypertension and chronic bronchitis," Jordan said.

Having a pet can promote physical activity, he pointed out, thereby helping to keep such illnesses subdued and reducing the number and intensity of attacks, as in the case of bronchitis.

Pets can be psychologically beneficial, too. Various studies have shown that a person who lives alone, but has a pet, not only feels less lonely but also makes friends more easily. "Pets can serve to break the ice and make social contacts easier," Nolte said.

Someone is more readily approached when walking a dog than when hauling shopping bags home. A person with a budgie in a home for the elderly is more likely to have visits from fellow residents. A pet cat may pique the curiosity of neighbours in an otherwise impersonal block of flats.

"Pets provide a innocuous opportunity for a conversation," Nolte said. "To get talking, you can simply ask how the person's bird is doing."

Then there is the warm feeling of being needed by the pet. "That does everyone good," Kopernik remarked. Particularly retirees and parents whose children have grown up and moved out often enjoy having a pet, he noted.

People who are ill may receive a similar boost. "Numerous studies indicate that pets can provide added motivation for them to get back on their feet," said Kopernik, who likened pets to children that have to be cared for.

Pets can also alleviate unhappy situations. "Our research group once did a study on dogs' effects on children whose parents divorce," Nolte said. It found that dogs could serve as a kind of neutral third party, "listening" to the worries without responding.

"Dogs clearly had the function of comforter and listener,"

Adults, too, often feel happier with pets, he added.

"The mere presence of a pet, or touching it, can be pacifying."

- AAP

Study: Why Dogs and Cats Make Babies Healthier Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2012/07/09/study-why-dogs-and-cats-make-babies-healthier/#ixzz2HlFCKDkx

http://healthland.time.com/2012/07/09/study-why-dogs-and-cats-make-babies-healthier/

What do dogs or cats have to do with your baby’s risk of catching a cold? According to the latest research, they may help lower his or her risk of coughs and sniffles during the first year of life.

Reporting in the journal Pediatrics, researchers say that babies who grow up in homes with a pet — namely a dog or a cat — are less likely to get sick than children who live pet-free. The results bolster the notion that keeping infants’ environments overly sanitized isn’t good for their health. Previous research has linked the presence of pets with a lower risk of allergies among babies, while a recent study in mice found that exposure to household dust from homes with a dog prevented infection with a common respiratory virus that is thought to increase the risk of childhood asthma.

(MORE: Why We’re Going Nuts Over Nut Allergies)

So, how do pets protect against these diseases? It’s not entirely clear, but researchers think that exposure to pet dander, as well as the microbes that pets carry into the home from outdoors, could prime babies’ still-developing immune systems and train them early to fend off assaults from common allergens and bugs, such as from animals or other bacteria and viruses.

“We think the exposure to pets somehow matures the immune system so when the child meets the microbes, he might be better prepared for them,” says Dr. Eija Bergroth, a pediatrician at Kuopio University Hospital in Finland who led current study.

Bergroth and her colleagues didn’t analyze the babies in their study for immune-system markers to verify the theory, but they hypothesize that the same process that may help kids steer clear of allergies or asthma may also explain why some infants can stave off colds better than others.

For their study, the researchers followed 397 children born in Finland between 2002 and ’05. For the first year of life, parents kept weekly logs of their children’s health, jotting down symptoms like coughing, runny nose and ear infections; they also noted when kids’ got prescribed antibiotics. The researchers found that babies who grew up in homes with pets were 44% less likely to develop an ear infection and 29% less likely to receive antibiotics, compared with pet-free babies.

Kids with dogs fared better than those with cats: Overall, babies who lived with a dog were 31% more likely to be healthy in their first year than babies without a dog; kids from homes with cats were 6% more likely to be healthy than those in cat-free families.

The fact that kids in pet-friendly homes got fewer antibiotics to treat respiratory infections is encouraging. Overuse of antibiotics is known to encourage drug-resistance in bacteria, making them harder to treat.

(MORE: How ‘Bring Your Dog to Work’ Days Could Lower Your Stress)

Bergroth’s study also underscores the importance of timing when it comes to pet exposure: so far, all the evidence suggests that early exposure to pets may be most helpful in lowering children’s risk of allergies and asthma. That’s because during the first year of life, babies’ immune systems are still learning how to recognize microbial friend from foe, and it could be that early training with low-dose exposures in the form of pet hair may be beneficial.

When it comes to colds and ear infections, however, Bergroth’s study found an interesting twist: kids with pets were healthier overall, but the health benefit appeared to be greatest in babies whose pets weren’t around as much. Those who had dogs who spent less than six hours a day inside, for example, had fewer infections than kids who grew up with indoor-only dogs. That suggests that when animals are allowed to bring in more dirt and microbes from outdoors, it helps strengthen babies’ immune systems faster.

But despite the good news about pets, it’s probably not necessary to get a dog or cat if you don’t already have one. For one thing, some previous studies have shown that for children who may have a predisposition to developing allergies or asthma, living with a pet can exacerbate their symptoms. Bergroth also notes that her study focused on children living in rural or suburban areas of Finland, and that the microbes dogs and cats track inside in these regions may be different from those brought in by pets living in urban areas, where unsanitary trash bins or sewers can harbor bugs that may harm infants, rather than help.

Bottom line: you shouldn’t get a pet expressly to protect your child from colds, but you also don’t need to worry about getting rid of Fido out of fear that he may do harm by nuzzling up to your newborn.

MORE: ‘Pet Care’ Inflation: Health Care Costs Have Soared, and Not Only for Human Beings

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2012/07/09/study-why-dogs-and-cats-make-babies-healthier/#ixzz2HlFGB6ke

Teach kids about kindness to animals

http://www.straitstimes.com/premium/forum-letters/story/teach-kids-about-kindness-animals-20130108

Published on Jan 08, 2013

THE recent case of dismembered kittens in Chong Pang ("Dismembered kittens dumped in HDB corridor"; last Wednesday) has shocked me to the core.

Much has been spoken about the plight of the weak and vulnerable in our society. It is time that animals are recognised as belonging to this group.

Animals have the right to live in harmony with humans. But because they can't speak, their sufferings often go unnoticed.

Cases of animal cruelty and abandonment are on the rise. It is time for our nation to resolve to make animal cruelty history.

The Government can send out a stronger signal that it will not tolerate animal cruelty. Ultimately, it is up to every citizen to do his part.

Perhaps kindness to animals can be inculcated as part of the education curriculum, and more can be done to support the work of animal welfare organisations.

This is a test of our moral character and "heart" as a nation. Let us not be found wanting.

Winston Chin

Animal rights: How parents, public can do the right thing

http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC130104-0000053/Animal-rights--How-parents,-public-can-do-the-right-thing

                 From Ryan Chan

Updated 01:22 PM Jan 04, 2013

I refer to the report, "Animal welfare groups step up hunt for kitten killers" (Jan 3).

The statement by Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, that "how one is judged as a society can be seen - among other things - from the way one treats animals", struck a chord with me.

I live in Yishun and am proud that my constituency is the one with the pilot programme encouraging responsible cat ownership.

While it is a sign that we are becoming a more gracious society, we are some distance away from achieving that goal.

I have seen children chasing after stray cats just to give them a good scare, while their parents turn a blind eye to their antics.

What the children see as harmless fun may lead to the wrong mentality, especially when parents fail to educate them on the proper way to treat animals.

Animal rights are no less than ours and no society should tolerate the kind of behaviour that ended the two kittens' lives. It is time for harsher penalties in cases of animal cruelty. A slap on the wrist in the form of a fine cannot suffice.

The public should also help with information that could lead to the arrest of such animal abusers.

It would be the right thing to do, whether or not one is an animal lover.

http://www.catwelfare.org/node/8099

Cat abuse in Chong Pang

Submitted by veron on Wed, 01/02/2013 - 14:37

We are organising a door-to-door appeal for information in Chong Pang to seek information as well as raise awareness about animal abuse on Thursday 3 Jan 7pm. If you would like to participate, please RSVP with your name and contact withdebra@catwelfare.org.

_________

The year has ended on an extremely tragic note. 2 kittens were found dismembered in Chong Pang. The case has been reported to the Police, AVA and SPCA.

We CONDEMN the abuser. We also CONDEMN the irresponsible cat owner that has chronically abandoned and let her pet cats roam at this block, but there was never enough evidence to tie the abandonment and ownership to the household.

The caregivers have been trying to keep up with this situation with sterilisation and rehoming but were too late to this recently abandoned litter.

This household was red-flagged again when we were doing the door to door visits for the cat ownership pilot and the case was surfaced to authorities to bring new solutions to this chronic problem, under the pilot. While that is underway, it is also too late for this litter.

This is exactly the kind of situation the Animal Welfare Legistation Review and Cat Ownership Pilot kick-started in 2012 aim to resolve to get a definitive grip on abuse and abandonment. Cases like this show that there is NO TIME TO LOSE. We MUST see concrete results in 2013 before it is too late for more cats!

The New Paper | Jan 2, 2013
Yishun cats mutilated
Linette Heng

Source: The New Paper

TODAY | Jan 2, 2013
Kittens found dismembered in Chong Pang
Ashley Chia

SINGAPORE - A year in which initiatives in animal welfare gathered pace came to a close with a gruesome case of animal abuse.

Two kittens were found dismembered on Sunday outside a flat in Chong Pang, the very neighbourhood beating a new trail in animal welfare and pet ownership policies.

Pictures of the two kittens chopped into pieces and left outside their owners' flat circulated online after the Cat Welfare Society (CWS) posted them on its Facebook page on Monday.

This comes as the Animal Welfare Legislation Review Committee (AWLRC) is considering stiffer fines and jail terms for animal abusers as well as community service with animal welfare groups.

Between June 2011 and July last year, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals investigated 1,027 cases of animal cruelty.

In this latest case, the CWS post stated that the owners "chronically abandoned" and allowed their cats to roam at the block on Yishun Ring Road, but there was "never enough evidence to tie the abandonment and ownership to the household".

According to CWS President Veron Lau, who called the incident the "most gruesome" in the area, the dead kittens were discovered by the owners' neighbours and their owners, who are currently overseas, had left the kittens outside. The last reported case of animal cruelty in the area was over a year ago, when a cat was found to have burn marks.

"This household was red-flagged again when we were doing door-to-door visits for the cat ownership pilot, and the case was surfaced to the authorities to bring new solutions to this chronic problem, under the pilot," read the post. "While that is underway, it's also too late for this litter."

Under the two-year pilot to encourage responsible cat ownership, Chong Pang residents can legally own one cat per flat but must ensure that the cat is sterilised, microchipped and registered with the CWS by Jan 31, among other conditions.

If owners flout the rules more than three times, the cat will be removed for rehoming and a warning letter will be issued by the Housing and Development Board. A fine of up to S$4,000 can be imposed.

Ms Lau told TODAY that response to the programme has been "very encouraging", with many pet cats in the area already sterilised, but that abandonment can be hard to prove if there is no clear ownership.

"Through this pilot, we hope to come up with solutions and policy changes to tackle the abandonment issue - how to prove ownership and what kind of penalties irresponsible owners should get," she said.

The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority is investigating the case and following up with the parties involved.

Source: TODAY

CNA | Jan 2, 2013
Help identify those responsible for mutilating cats, Shanmugam urges residents

SINGAPORE: Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam is encouraging residents to come forward to help identify those responsible for mutilating two cats in Yishun.

He described the act as "sick".

Mr Shanmugam, who is also the MP for Nee Soon GRC, said that "how one is judged as a society can be seen from the way one treats animals."

On Sunday, two kittens were found dismembered outside an HDB flat in Yishun Ring Road.

The Cat Welfare Society posted the photo on its Facebook page after being alerted to the incident by a resident who found the remains.

The flat is in the Chong Pang neighbourhood, which has a pilot programme to encourage responsible cat ownership. Under the pilot, Chong Pang residents can legally own one cat per flat but must fulfill certain conditions.

These include ensuring that the cat is sterilised and microchipped.

Source: CNA

Zaobao | Jan 2, 2013

Yahoo News | Jan 2, 2013
Dismembered kittens found outside Chong Pang flat
Rahimah Rashith

UPDATED (3:30pm 2 January 2013 to add minister's statements)

Two kittens were found dismembered outside a Chong Pang flat last Sunday in a gruesome case of animal abuse.

Noting that how a society is judged can be seen from the way animals are treated, Foreign Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam urged residents to come forward and help identify those responsible for the act.

The police are on the case, he said in his Facebook post Wednesday.

The Cat Welfare Society (CWS) posted pictures on its Facebook page of two kittens who were chopped up and left outside their owner’s flat.

While it’s not clear who dismembered the kittens, CWS said the owner of the cats had “chronically abandoned and let her pet cats roam” around Yishun.

It added the owner had been “red-flagged” previously for abandoning the cats, though there was “never enough evidence to tie the abandonment” to the household. Caregivers had been working with the CWS to provide sterilisation and re-home the kittens.

The CWS describes the gruesome case as “obviously a message to the cat owner sent by the abuser”.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' (SPCA), Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) and the police have been notified.

A police spokeman told Yahoo! that they received a call on 30th December at about 10.30pm requesting for assistance at a unit at 115b Yishun Ring road.

Upon their arrival, the carcasses of two cats were found at the said location. Investigations are underway.

The case has sparked the fury of netizens.

CWS' Facebook post on Monday has attracted over 700 comments to date, most of them condemning the brutal act.

Facebook user Lina Lee wrote, "No animals should be treated this way. It's pure brutality and blood sick."

Another user Kim Chua urged for stiffer punishment for animal abusers.

"I urge our government to strongly impose heavier sentences on animal abusers. Few months of imprisonment and fines won't work on sicko [sick] people," he wrote.

Source: Yahoo News

Asia One | Jan 1, 2013
Kittens found dismembered in Chong Pang
Jacqueline Woo

Graphic photos circulating on Facebook show two dismembered kittens outside a Chong Pang flat.

The Cat Welfare Society posted the photos along with a message on their Facebook page on Dec 31 at 8.32pm:

"The year has ended on an extremely tragic note. 2 kittens were found dismembered in Chong Pang. The case has been reported to the Police, AVA and SPCA.

"We CONDEMN the abuser. We also CONDEMN the irresponsible cat owner that has chronically abandoned and let her pet cats roam at this block, but there was never enough evidence to tie the abandonment and ownership to the household.

"The caregivers have been trying to keep up with this situation with sterilisation and rehoming but were too late to this recently abandoned litter.

"This household was red-flagged again when we were doing the door to door visits for the cat ownership pilot and the case was surfaced to authorities to bring new solutions to this chronic problem, under the pilot. While that is underway, it is also too late for this litter."

A Stomp contributor who sent the information to the citizen journalism website said: "As seen on the Cat Welfare Society Facebook page, this picture is of a dismembered kitten that was found in Chong Pang. This is the EPITOME of ANIMAL CRUELTY AND ABUSE.

"The level of animal cruelty and abuse is just..I'm really baffled and at a loss for words. This is a DESPICABLE ACT by an INHUMAN AND EVIL person, who I am SAD TO SAY, IS A SINGAPOREAN.

"NO LIVING CREATURE -- HUMAN OR ANIMAL ALIKE, DESERVES SUCH A FATE. The person who did this, may he or she get caught soon and be punished for his or her deeds. Our society does not need a SICK person to exist amongst us."

Chong Pang is the first estate where a pilot scheme was launched in October last year to allow cat lovers to keep their feline friends in Housing Board flats.

In October 2011, a centralised cat-feeding station was launched at the void deck of Block 115A in Yishun Ring Road.

Source: Asia One