Culling animal abuse

Today Online
29 June 2006

How should serial offenders be dealt with to prevent further incidents?

Tan Hwee Hwee
hweehwee@newstoday.com.sg

HE WAS charged in court yesterday for allegedly torturing a cat, barely four months after being convicted of animal abuse.

Sentenced to spend three months in jail from March, David Hooi Yin Weng was let out early on April 14. In the months since his release, volunteers in his Bedok neighbourhood had called the police several times when they spotted Hooi with cats ? an experience which they wrote to Today about, in a letter published on May 11.

Meanwhile, with a mystery cat-killer in Old Airport Road still at large despite numerous alerts raised by residents, concerned animal activists are asking: Why is it so difficult to apprehend serial abusers?

Said Ms Sharifah Khamis, who discovered the cat that Hooi has recently been accused of torturing to the point that it had to be put to sleep: "People may come to tell us of animals being abused, but when it comes to giving evidence in court, they refuse to do so because they are frightened."

The 40-year-old saleswoman has also found, from past experience, that in order to get police to take action against an animal abuser, volunteers have to enlist the help of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals or the Cat Welfare Society (CWS). "Sometimes there's evidence against the abuser, but we volunteers have to talk to both societies to work together to make the case strong before the police will do anything."

Ms Dawn Kua, director of operations at the CWS, told Today: "The laws we have are very good ? we are already strict enough ? but the problems are in enforcement.

"When volunteers go to the police, they are often given the runaround and referred to welfare societies. But societies like ours can't prosecute, only the police can prosecute. The police need to treat animal abuse as a crime like any other."

Animal-lover Dr Tan Chek Wee felt that jailing offenders such as Hooi ? who had earlier confessed to having killed cats since he was 15 ? might not be the best solution, and that counselling would be a better alternative.

"Someone like Hooi needs help. There's also a need to ensure he gets enough support from the community once released. This is a case where the person involved is both the victim and the abuser," said Dr Tan, 50.

But Ms Kua also points to the habitual cat-culling by the authorities as a problem. "We kill 35 cats a day, about 13,000 cats every year. Abused cats are only a small proportion of these. We are sending out the wrong message: That it's okay to kill cats in some cases."