LETTER TO AVA
28 January 2004

APPEAL FOR TIGHTER CONTROL ON SALE OF SMALL ANIMALS IN SINGAPORE

We refer to the recent press releases by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) asking AVA to step-in to curb the growing trend of abandoning animals. The House Rabbit Society of Singapore (HRSS) shares SPCA’s concerns and urges AVA to take immediate action and impose regulations to control the sale of small animals in Singapore.

Last year, SPCA took in 2,059 small animals. Most of these animals had to be put to sleep due to the limited number of homes to adopt them and lack of space. HRSS volunteers too continually respond to numerous requests to rescue rabbits dumped around our neighbourhoods. The accompanying report of abandonment cases handled by HRSS highlights the seriousness of the situation.

HRSS attributes this disturbing trend to the increasing proliferation of pet shops and private breeders in Singapore.

1. AVA has established customer education guidelines for pet shops. However, in our experience, most pet shops in Singapore pay scant attention to these guidelines and are only interested in profits from higher turnover of animals. Prospective buyers must be educated about the responsibilities involved in owning pets before the sale. We request AVA to step up enforcement checks at pet shops to make sure that customer education guidelines are strictly followed.

2. We recommend that micro-chipping be made compulsory for all small animals sold in Singapore. Apart from helping trace people who abandon their pets, this regulation will increase the cost of owning small animals. Today, one can buy a small rabbit for a few tens of dollars and this is perhaps why irresponsible owners find them so disposable.

3. AVA should impose upper limits on the number of animals that can be sold by each pet shop in a month. This will reduce impulse buying of pets as happens each festive season. This will also ensure that pet shop owners thoroughly screen all potential buyers.

4. Finally, HRSS is distressed about the increasing number of unlicensed private breeders who breed animals and then sell them over the Internet. A visit to the online classified sections of any portal like Yahoo or Singnet shows how rampant this trade has become. We urge AVA to make it illegal for anyone without a proper license to sell or to advertise animals for sale. Government regulations should also require Internet portals to take down animal classifieds put up by unlicensed breeders.

If we are to become a caring society, we must all do our part to control the increasing number of abandoned animals. Animal welfare groups in Singapore are already doing all they can to address this problem. However, without support from the government this is a losing battle.

Dear Ms Tan

APPEAL FOR TIGHER CONTROL ON SALE OF SMALL ANIMALS IN SINGAPORE

Thank you for your letter of 28 Jan 2004 regarding the control of sale of
small animals.

We would like to assure you that AVA does regularly monitor pet shops in
Singapore to ensure that the operators comply with the conditions of
licensing. We fully agree with you that prospective buyers must be made aware
of the responsibilities of pet ownership. Our inspectors will continue to
advice pet shop operators to provide customer education guidelines. Although
pet shops are required to be licensed by AVA, we do not impose limits on the
number of animals they sell, as such a measure would be contrary to the
policy of allowing businesses in Singapore to operate on a free market basis.
It is presently not a policy to impose compulsory micro-chipping of small
animals as a measure to regulate their numbers.

With regard to the breeding of animals, we wish to inform that AVA does not
license pet breeders or place restrictions on the private sale of animals.
However, action can be taken against a person for conducting commercial
breeding and sale of animals in a precises without the permission of relevant
authorities. You may inform our Centre For Animal Welfare & Control
(Tel :6471 9987) shoudl you know of any such unauthorised use of premises.

In recognition that the abandonment of pets is an irresponsible and cruel
act, AVA acknowledges that public education to raise the standard of
responsible pet ownership is imperative. AVA has been actively giving talks
to scholls and the public on responsible pet ownership, and we will be
intensifying our efforts in our public education programme, which aims to
minimise pet abandonment as one of its objectives. We look forward to support
from animal welfare groups for the programme.

Best Regards

K Madhavan
Head Animal Control and Pet Licensing Branch
for CEO, AGRI-FOOD & VETERINARY AUTHORITY