cat abuse at choa chu kang

The 'worst case of cat mutilation' was discovered at Blk 550 Choa Chu Kang on Street 52 on 21 Feb 2009.

Last Sunday, a group of us went door to door in the vicinity to see what information we could find about the case as well as to ask the residents to participate in a petition for more security measures to be put in place in the area.

Most of the residents were not aware of what had happened in their neighbourhood, although a few had seen the SPCA reward posters on the notice boards or read the TNP article. But after being told what happened to the cat, many were noticeably shaken and eager to ask for something to be done.

This was not a case of a misguided hot-headed or frightened individual protecting themselves or their territory from an errant cat. Appalling as those cases are, many might shake their heads but ultimately, find no real bearing on their own safety. This crime on their doorstep is a grotesquely meticulous, pre-meditated act with a highly lethal weapon, very much the work of a troubled individual seeking release in the worst possible way. Enough studies have shown the correlation of such violence against animals to violence against humans and that message has made more than a few residents sit up and take notice.

And this was not an isolated case in Choa Chu Kang. Equally gruesome was the pregnant tri-colour cat found on 29 Nov 2008 at Blk 130 Choa Chu Kang Ave 1 with her stomach slit open and guts hanging out. That makes two cases in Choa Chu Kang where mutilation with a knife or sharp object is evident. Over the years in that estate, the caregiver has found and cared for countless more injured or dead cats, bashed in, run over by bicycles, thrown from high floors.


Statistics on animal abuse in Singapore number in the hundreds every year – 800 on average. Most of these are pet-related, outcomes of irresponsibility, negligence and plain old stupidity. These perpetrators are usually ordinary people with some vital deficiency and we know there are too many of them littering the earth. If education, threat of fines and public humiliation cannot get through to them, well, let’s hope there are enough busybodies in this world to call them out on their shortcomings.

Just as importantly, we need to take a magnifying glass to the actual number of violent crimes committed against animals every year and the mode of abuse. We’d like to think the individuals who would take these actions are few but they are also gallingly hard to apprehend. Better profiling and records can make all the difference. Perhaps SPCA or the police are monitoring these cases but as a lay person, the woman was not able to get much more information than the yearly reported statistics.

Hand in hand with that, we would like to remind people to report all abuse cases to SPCA or to the police, if only so that a comprehensive database of abuse can be built that might force authorities to take closer notice of this insidious underlying threat to society. It might one day even help build a case against a perpetrator.

As the woman was assigned the block directly next to Blk 550, she and another volunteer encountered quite a few households who heard distressed cat cries several nights in a row around the time the body of the kitten was found. Their hearts sank when they heard this. One young girl who told them about the cries was also visibly cut up. Let’s hope she never hears those cries again in her neighbourhood.

makes me wanna bawl

somewhere in china...


A dog was seen in the middle of busy street watching over its friend, which had been hit by a car. It kept trying to wake its already-dead friend...


and push it out of the road.



you'd do that for me, Rosie?
"hope i never have to."

the amazing, AMAZING caregiver

auntie ah lan is an elderly lady. she still works and all the money she earns as a hotel kitchen staff goes to cats. sterilisation. food. and the time someone threw a cat on the roof of a refuse collection centre which costs her $50 for a contractor to bring down, in less than 5 minutes. spare an old lady her lunch money!

what truly sets auntie ah lan apart from the rest of the caregivers?

deja vu, someone threw another cat down 7 stories. a ledge breaks his fall but leaves him with internal bleeding and paralysis in the hind legs. the vet says he's a goner but instead of putting Jamie to sleep, auntie ah lan brings him home. the vet has nothing for it so she tries TCM. yes, traditional chinese freaking medicine. herbs to flush out the blood (it came out in black clots) and ointment for the legs, everyday, for 3 months. and Jamie has been walking, jumping, bouncing ever since for 5 years.

that's not all. old ginger here she nursed back from severe scalding by hot oil. she is currently nursing another scalding case.


someone please give auntie ah lan a nobel peace prize. for picking up all the shattered fragments of humanity in her neighbourhood.


after living in the neighbourhood for so many years, the caregivers know who the culprits are. but when they make a police report about cats being scalded, beaten, killed, the police ask where's the evidence, got photo? yet when these culprits make the slightest complaint about cat sightings, officers show up in a hurry badges flashing to 'inspect' the caregivers' apartments threatening eviction, confiscation.

these are from evocative accounts with evocative words from feisty little old ladies but the discrepancy in the dispensing of justice to do with cats is plainly evident, in any dialect.

over and above, one of the caregivers, auntie ah lan's friend has this to say about her cat-abusing neighbour, "every week go church don't know for what. say cats smelly, his heart even more smelly. you mean people shit not smelly? only cat shit smelly? say the cat shit on his window. of course la, even a kid if you beat and corner him and make him scared he also will shit and pee everywhere."

the woman knows what she wants to be when she grows up(old). a feisty little old lady. hopefully one who can work a miracle. if auntie ah lan can work one on Jamie, maybe the caregiver can work one for unknown.

new year babies

Singapore's 2006 first baby born at Thomson Medical Centre


rambo rabbeet has a new charge. mummy and 4 tiny newborns.

man and woman find them on new year's day through the cleaner's tip off. it is so beautiful watching mummy with her babies after reading about Scarlett. and so heartbreaking at the same time. the way she hurdles over her babies when she senses a potential threat. the way she nudges and licks them, drawing them around her. the way she flops down laden and exhausted as she turns her nipples towards her wailing babies.

the gift of life especially on this day of days should be an exciting, joyous affair but it is instead a bitter one as we watch a young mother shackled by the cruel fate of nature. she is a protective, tenacious mother who would do anything to safeguard her young. yet she is entirely powerless to safe her babies from the brutal circumstances of her own life.

before they even have a fighting chance, the babies already face grave danger. it would not be the first time a vulnerable mother and her little newborns are put into a plastic bag and thrown into the garbage in this neighbourhood. a source points to one of the cleaners. if only the Town Council is taking this seriously but they are not. their standard reply is, "we will look into it".

mummy will be sterilised before being released back to the community. hopefully afterall, her babies will escape her fate.

things that turn a heart cold

the woman googles animal abuse after reading this blog entry Animal Cruelty in Singapore is considered no big deal and finds the following:

Animal Abuse & Human Abuse: Partners in Crime
PETA People for Ethical Treatment of Animals

The PETA Media Center has this to say:

"Anyone who has accustomed himself to regard the life of any living creature as worthless is in danger of arriving also at the idea of worthless human lives," wrote humanitarian Dr. Albert Schweitzer.

Parents who neglect an animal's need for proper care or abuse animals may also abuse or neglect their own children. Some abusive adults who know better than to abuse a child in public have no such qualms about abusing an animal publicly.

Schools, parents, communities, and courts who shrug off animal abuse as a "minor" crime are ignoring a time bomb.

... children should be taught to care for and respect animals in their own right. After extensive study of the links between animal abuse and human abuse, two experts concluded, "The evolution of a more gentle and benign relationship in human society might, thus, be enhanced by our promotion of a more positive and nurturing ethic between children and animals."

if i were the judge for the cruelty case with the Alaskan Malamute, I would similarly fine him $3000 to cover my precious time spent in court on him. i would also have him donate $7000 to SPCA or Action for Singapore Dogs dedicated to efforts on uncovering other errant pet owners like him.

a jail term would be largely punitive. i will give it to him anyway in hopes of deterring other morons cut from the same mold. but for the sake of his future pets and his family, i would make him undergo psychiatric evaluation, get some empathy training and do community service with an animal hospital or organisation for a year. he will also not be allowed to have a pet unless certified human again by professional psychiatrist.