If you know who abandoned these kittens and are willing to stand as witness, please write to
http://catwelfare.org/aboutus for advice.
http://www.catwelfare.org/faq#t744n3633
Under the Animals and Birds Act, anyone who is found guilty of pet abandonment can be imprisoned for up to 12 months, fined up to $10,000, or both.See below for full description of the law.
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There are several reasons why new cats appear in your area. They are
1) Relocation because people do not want to see cats culled and release them in other areas instead.
2) Abandonment by residents of the area because they do not sterilise or they have moved away.
1) Relocation because people do not want to see cats culled and release them in other areas instead.
2) Abandonment by residents of the area because they do not sterilise or they have moved away.
The result of both forms of abandonment is that the cat becomes disoriented and is subjected to territorial disputes with existing cats. For previously owned cats, they fare worse because they lack the necessary street survival skills, often refusing to eat and have an overwhelming fear of the environment.
The information required to prosecute a pet abandonment case is as follows
1) Proof of ownership
2) Proof of act of abandonment
1) Proof of ownership
2) Proof of act of abandonment
There are currently certain complications to prosecuting under the law. Firstly, there is no licensing of cat ownership. Secondly, cats are banned in HDB flats. However, a recent case has shown that it is possible to proof ownership and subsequent abandonment even without licensing and cat ownership is banned.
If you have witnessed someone abandoning their pet cat, do not react in anger but try to find out their address by engaging them in conversation or tailing them. Knowing their address is the single most important piece of information that you can gather.
If you did not witness the abandonment but recognise a cat as belonging to a certain household, that is also a good place to start.
Contact the AVA as a witness to report this household with their address. If possible, arrange to visit the household with the investigating officers. It is even more effective if you bring the cat in question along with you. In this way, you make it impossible for the perpetrators to deny that they have been keeping this cat and abandoned it.
Neighbours can also help to testify that they have seen the cat living within the premises of the household in question.
Often when a cat is abandoned, it is too late for the cat, even if the owners are brought to justice. To prevent cat abandonment in your neighbourhood, work with your Town Council officers to warn and educate cat owners about their responsibility
1) To keep pet cats indoors and for life
2) To sterilise
3) To educate that pet abandonment is a crime
1) To keep pet cats indoors and for life
2) To sterilise
3) To educate that pet abandonment is a crime
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Animal and Birds Act (Chapter 7)
Interpretation of this Part
41. In this Part, unless the context otherwise requires, “animal” includes any beast, bird, fish, reptile or insect, whether wild or tame.
41. In this Part, unless the context otherwise requires, “animal” includes any beast, bird, fish, reptile or insect, whether wild or tame.
Cruelty to animals
42. —(1) Any person who —
42. —(1) Any person who —
(a) cruelly beats, kicks, ill-treats, over-rides, over-drives, over-loads, tortures, infuriates or terrifies any animal;
(b) causes or procures or, being the owner, permits any animal to be so used;
(c) being in charge of any animal in confinement or in the course of transport from one place to another neglects to supply the animal with sufficient food and water;
(d) by wantonly or unreasonably doing or omitting to do any act, causes any unnecessary pain or suffering or, being the owner, permits any unnecessary pain or suffering to any animal;
(e) causes, procures or, being the owner, permits to be confined, conveyed, lifted or carried any animal in such a manner or position as to subject it to unnecessary pain or suffering;
(f) being the owner of any animal, abandons the animal without reasonable cause or excuse, whether permanently or not, in circumstances likely to cause the animal any unnecessary suffering or distress, or causes or permits the animal to be so abandoned;
(g) employs or causes or procures or, being the owner, permits to be employed in any work of labour, any animal which in consequence of any disease, infirmity, wound or sore, or otherwise is unfit to be so employed; or
(h) causes, procures or assists at the fighting or baiting of any animal, or keeps, uses, manages, or acts or assists in the management of any premises or place for the purpose, or partly for the purpose, of fighting or baiting any animal, or permits any premises or place to be so kept, managed or used, or receives or causes or procures any person to receive money for the admission of any person to the premises or place,
shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both; except where an owner is convicted of having permitted cruelty to an animal under subsection (2), he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding $10,000.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), an owner shall be deemed to have permitted cruelty to an animal, if he has failed to exercise reasonable care and supervision in respect of the animal.
(3) Nothing in this section applies to the commission or omission of any act in the course of the destruction, or the preparation for destruction of any animal as food, unless that destruction or preparation was accompanied by the infliction of unnecessary suffering.
