SINGAPORE : The Singapore Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) has urged the relevant authorities to regulate the pet trade as more unwanted animals are abandoned yearly.

Deirdre Moss, Executive Officer of SPCA, said: "The SPCA takes in thousands of animals every year, and we cannot keep justifying euthanasia as a way to regulate these numbers.....it is time the relevant authorities step in."

She made the appeal after the non-profit organisation reported a shocking rise in unwanted animals.

But does the solution to this worsening problem of abandoned animals lie with the authorities or the consumer?

What SPCA wants to know is how Singapore could possibly become a kinder, more gracious society when the number of abandoned animals it receives suggest otherwise.

In 1984, 5,633 unwanted animals were abandoned. This rises to 10,839 in 2002 and last year alone, the figure was 12,309.

The SPCA said it had the capacity to hold just 150 animals, but it receives over 1,000 every month.

Unable to re-home so many or maintain them all, the animals are instead put down.

The SPCA said the restrictive laws banning cats and medium-size dogs in HDB flats compounds this problem.

After all, 85 percent of the population live in HDB flats.

But going by the figures of abandoned animals, the highest rate of increase was in the number of small animals - like hamsters, guinea pigs and rabbits - all of which are allowed in such residential areas.

So does the question lie in revising existing laws or in education?

Ms Moss added: "Education plays a very important role, but there still must be restrictions on the number being bred for sale, because they are so easily bred, marketed and then discarded after a while.

"People do not have time to take care of them, that's the main reason why people are giving them up.

"Yes, there should be more education at the point of sale, there's just not enough, people do not realise what they are getting into when they buy that cute, furry pet from the pet shop."

But the SPCA does not believe that education alone will work.

The sharp increase in petshops, Internet pet trading and individual breeders, are all adding to the surplus of animals for sale.

SPCA wants the authorities to restrict sales, as it feels the pet trade cannot be a self-regulating industry.

When contacted, the HDB and Agri-Veterinary Authority (AVA) said they had no plans to change existing policies or regulations.

Ms Moss said: "The SPCA is definitely not going to give up, and we would ask everybody who loves animals and cares about them, and does not want to see them put down, to write in to their local MPs, and to ask for restrictions on the number of pets for sale. - CNA
 

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