Pets and Microchips in Singapore

A letter from ST forum today.


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Punish those who mistreat and abandon pets

		One of the four pedigree dogs found abandoned at a Pasir Ris carpark nearly two weeks ago. -- PHOTO: COURTESY OF IRENE LOW

I REFER to Monday's letter, 'Dog found dumped near rubbish bin'. The sad story of cruelty, neglect and abandonment of pet dogs is unfortunately a common one.

On the morning of May 29, four pedigree dogs were found together at a carpark of Pasir Ris Park. There were two female pugs, a female schnauzer and a male shih tzu. The breed of the male dog could not be determined with certainty as he had lost all his fur and, like the other three dogs, was covered with sores and in a foul-smelling, filthy, mangy condition.

All the dogs appeared to be un-neutered. The female dogs had sagging udders and must have suckled more than one litter of pups before. The dogs have received veterinary treatment for skin and other infections and are now being cared for at an animal shelter.

Although three of the dogs have microchips with serial numbers that were detected by a scanner, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) was unable to trace the owners as the dogs were not licensed with the authority.

I am writing this letter with the hope that there will be more public awareness of the pitiful plight of dogs abandoned by their owners.

This is also a call for more effective measures to trace and prosecute owners who mistreat their dogs and then abandon them cruelly and irresponsibly.

Irene Low (Ms)

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The key sentence in this letter is this

"Although three of the dogs have microchips with serial numbers that were detected by a scanner, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) was unable to trace the owners as the dogs were not licensed with the authority."

What this means is that AVA made it madatory for pet owners to microchip their pets, but did not make it madatory for veterinarians to register the details of the pet owners together with the microchip number with a central database. Either that or the Veterinarian who did the microchip failed to carry out his duties.

Major fail.