Four pedigree dogs abandoned in park

ARE irresponsible dog breeders abandoning pedigree dogs?

That's what some animal welfare volunteers are alleging, but one dog breeder The New Paper on Sunday spoke to disputed this.

Three weeks ago, four pedigree dogs were found at a carpark in Pasir Ris Park.

This prompted some, like Miss Elektra Xu, 24, to write to the Straits Times' Forum page.

Miss Xu, an aircraft engineer who has been volunteering with an animal shelter in Pasir Ris Farmway 2 for the past year, said in her letter that irresponsible dog breeders could possibly be behind such cases.

When contacted by The New Paper on Sunday, MissXu said that every few months, she and other volunteers have found abandoned dogs wandering around the area.

Said Miss Xu: 'Some of these dogs were abandoned by their previous owners. But many of the abandoned dogs were thrown out of pet farms once they are of no more use to the breeders.

'We knew that they were from pet farms because we noticed that their nipples were very swollen - they must have been mums to many puppies. They were pedigree breeds such as golden retrievers and labradors, which are commonly used for breeding.'

Miss Deirdre Moss, executive officer of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), said it has not received any complaints about breeders abandoning dogs.

She said: 'We do not know where the dogs originated from. However, it is unusual that four pedigree dogs were found together in such a neglected state - on the skinny side with chronic skin problems.'

These are common conditions breeding dogs suffer from, said Mr Ricky Yeo, president of Action for Singapore Dogs, a non-profit animal welfare organisation.

He said: 'Normally, the dogs abandoned by puppy mills are pedigree, they are old, and have skin problems.

'They also develop muscle atrophy in some cases, because they are kept in such small cages that they do not have the chance to walk and use their muscles.'

Mr Yeo, who has been tracking dog abandonment since 2000, said it has been going on for some time.

Breeders not to blame

However, a dog breeder The New Paper on Sunday spoke to denied that breeders were to blame for the abandonment of pedigree dogs.

Mr Johnson Cheng, general manager of Ericsson Pet Farm, which sells puppies and runs a pet boarding facility at Pasir Ris Farmway 2, said it was 'rare' for pets to be abandoned in the area.

According to him, there are no such cases in some years, and when there have been any, no more than two dogs have been abandoned.

He said: 'I find them running around at the grass patch, so I'll take them and keep them in the pet boarding area, rather than call SPCA, where the dogs will be put down.'

He believes that the culprits who are abandoning the dogs are dog owners, and not breeders.

Mr Cheng said: 'The dogs I've found so far are adult dogs, and they are usually running around with their harness and collar.'

Mr Cheng added that they also respond when he tries calling them, so they must have been kept by someone before.

While he has not heard of any farms abandoning dogs, he felt that it would also be difficult to point the finger at the farms even if they were doing so.

Mr Cheng said: 'If breeding farms want to dispose of their dogs, they will do so discreetly, so no one will ever know if they have abandoned the dogs.

'The dogs can be traced back to the farm if they are microchipped, but not all the dogs are microchipped. Some breeders get away with not microchipping their dogs, because it is hard to track the dogs.

'It's not as if the authorities can track all the dogs with a GPS.'

No evidence

Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) spokesman Goh Shih Yong said that AVA impounds mainly stray dogs, and that there have been no cases of abandoned dogs.

He said that no dog farm has been prosecuted for abandonment as AVA has no evidence of them abandoning dogs.

Pet abandonment is an act of animal cruelty. Any person who is convicted of this offence can be fined up to $10,000 and jailed up to 12 months.