Action for Singapore Dogs (ASD), House Rabbit Society of Singapore (HRSS), Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and Zeus Communications will join the Cat Welfare Society at its screening of Japanese documentary "Dog, Cats and Humans" on 30 October 2010 for a panel discussion on the topic of pet abandonment and its implications. Two screenings at 3pm and 8pm will be co-presented with The Arts House.

Dogs, Cats, Humans: Working together against pet abandonment

The two panel sessions on 30 Oct 2010, jointly held with a documentary screening at 3pm and 8pm at the Art House, will focus on how animal welfare advocates and volunteers, estate officers, neighbours and the public can work together to create and reinforce peer encouragement and pressure amongst communities to raise the level of awareness amongst pet owners and their impetus to act responsibly.

Laws are in place and much public education on responsible pet ownership has been done by AVA and various animal welfare groups, yet there are those that often seem impervious to any kind of message that contradict their own entrenched thinking. More grassroot strategies mobilising the man on the street must be explored to complement the trickle-down effects of media exposure and education campaigns.

About 犬と猫と人間と"Dogs, Cats & Humans"

Directed by Motoharu Iida

Over 300,000 cats and dogs are put to sleep each year in Japan, a shocking figure that director Iida Motoharu discovered when he began to make 犬と猫と人間と (Dogs, Cats, and Humans). The documentary started when the director received a request from an elderly woman to make a film that would save the lives of abandoned dogs and cats on the streets of Japan, and the resulting product is both alarming and heartwarming.

Filmed over the course of four years, the film took Iida to several facilities where abandoned animals are euthanised, filming interviews with the employees about their unglamorous work. Iida also shows the more positive side of things by visiting a facility where healthy abandoned pets are kept and cared for until they are adopted. Ticketing details here.

Case on pet abandonment

One of the emaciated cats rescued by Cat Welfare Society.

In July 2010, a cat feeder witnessed a teenager releasing 10 cats in an estate in the East at a substation near a park. Upon closer examination, she found that the cats were just skin and bones and could barely stand.

The Cat Welfare Society was alerted and the cats were brought to the vet for immediate treatment. The vet found the cats to be severely underweight, weak and dehydrated. The ones in the worst condition had only 1/5 of their body weight. All the cats had poor, brittle hair coats as well as flakey skin which had started to form scabs. A diagnosis of poor skin and fur condition due to malnutrition was made. We also subsequently found genetic anomalies in some of the cats due to inbreeding.

When the Cat Welfare Society visited the family who abandoned the cats, we found more than 30 unsterilised cats in the flat. The hygiene level in the flat was extremely poor without any litter solutions provided for the animals. The cats urinated and defecated in all corners of the home. A litter of newborn kittens were being nursed by a mother cat in a cage. Another 10 cats were found to be severely emaciated in the flat.

The family admitted to adopting just three cats at the start. However, they did not sterilise them and the numbers increased to over 30. The family hid their plight behind closed doors even when they could not provide food and medical treatment for the cats, leading to their emaciation from starvation and illness. The situation became so unmanageable that they decided to abandon some of the cats.

This case constitutes a serious case of pet neglect and abandonment which is punishable by law and is under investigation by the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA). Under the Animals and Birds Act, anyone who is found guilty of animal cruelty, including pet abandonment can be imprisoned for up to 12 months, fined up to $10,000, or both.

This case is by no means isolated and highlights the severe damage that can be caused by erroneous attitudes left unchecked. The Cat Welfare Society and its volunteers have intervened in many cases where families are ignorant about the benefits of sterilisation or hold onto misguided beliefs about sterilisation.

Some pet owners still believe that letting their pets go is humane, choosing to assume that their pets like to be free and can survive on their own. However, animal rescuers have seen many cases where abandoned pet cats cower in fear in the drains and waste away. They no longer have the instincts to survive or defend themselves and are easy targets of abuse.

Most troubling are the pet owners who believe that sterilisation is morally forbidden, yet they deem letting the animals go absolves them of any wrong-doing, even when the animal is abused, killed or caught to be culled.