Cruelty in Singapore
Yesterday I posted some pictures of some crazed Chinese animal-crushing women, who have riled netizens all across China in the last 2 weeks. One of the women has her pictures now plastered all over Chinese media, along with the least obscene pictures of her poor victims. One businessperson has offered RMB 500,000 (= SGD100,000 = EUR50,000) for her capture, while other netizens have scrambled to pin down the woman who is said to be working for a public hospital in Liaoning. Apparently the woman sells DVDs of animals getting crushed, and one netizen called her and she actually offered to tailor make videos for the right price.
So today, I was reading the Straight Times as usual, and what do I see? Is animal-crushing becoming the latest fad or what?
March 7, 2006
Man jailed 3 months for torturing kitten till its eye protruded
1 1/2-month-old kitten also beaten on head and had to be put to sleep for its injuries
By Elena Chong
A MAN who rubbed the eyes of a kitten and beat its head was jailed for three months yesterday for animal abuse.
GRISLY FIND: Police found the kitten with its left eye protruding and blood stains on the nostrils when they visited Hooi's rented flat last November.
David Hooi Yin Weng, 42, pleaded guilty to torturing a female black-and-white kitten at his rented flat in Block 544, Bedok North Street 3 on Nov 14 last year.
Police found the cat with its left eye protruding and blood stains on the nostrils when they visited his flat on the evening of Nov 14.
The 1 1/2-month-old kitten had to be put to sleep for its injuries.
Pleading for leniency, Hooi said he made a 'mistake' and would not do it again.
He could have been fined up to $10,000 or jailed for up to 12 months under the Animals and Birds Act.
It was cat lover Ngiam Mui Wah, 46, who tipped off the police that Hooi might be ill-treating cats.
Ms Ngiam, who is self-employed, went to court to testify as a prosecution witness but did not have to do so as Hooi pleaded guilty to the offence.
She told The Straits Times yesterday that Hooi had been seen torturing cats before.
Ms Ngiam, who is part of a group feeding stray cats in the Bedok area, said a retired school teacher told her last June that she had seen a man strangle a kitten at Block 545 while she was taking a morning walk in the park.
Police were called in but could not find the dead cat.
Ms Ngiam then contacted the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and also made a police report.
Two months later, Ms Ngiam saw a man trying to catch a cat at the void deck of Block 543.
She immediately called the retired teacher who came and identified him as the same person who had killed the kitten last June.
Hooi left before the police came, but residents said he lived on the 11th floor of Block 544.
Ms Ngiam said his neighbours told them they had seen dead cats along the common corridor two to three days earlier.
Ms Ngiam, who has a pet cat, said some neighbours had advised her to let Hooi do what he liked with the stray cats and not to be a busybody.
'I don't agree. If everybody were to think that way, there will be a lot of problems not only to cats but also to human beings as well,' she said.
Ms Deirdre Moss, executive officer of the SPCA, said two cats were picked up from Hooi's flat. One was put up for adoption while the other was the badly injured kitten that had to be put to sleep.
'Although SPCA is not legally empowered to act in cruelty cases, the SPCA will investigate all alleged reports of animal abuse and assist the authorities as in this case,' she said.
Between 2000 and last year, at least five people were jailed for abusing cats and causing their deaths.
elena@sph.com.sg
So today, I was reading the Straight Times as usual, and what do I see? Is animal-crushing becoming the latest fad or what?
March 7, 2006
Man jailed 3 months for torturing kitten till its eye protruded
1 1/2-month-old kitten also beaten on head and had to be put to sleep for its injuries
By Elena Chong
A MAN who rubbed the eyes of a kitten and beat its head was jailed for three months yesterday for animal abuse.
GRISLY FIND: Police found the kitten with its left eye protruding and blood stains on the nostrils when they visited Hooi's rented flat last November.
David Hooi Yin Weng, 42, pleaded guilty to torturing a female black-and-white kitten at his rented flat in Block 544, Bedok North Street 3 on Nov 14 last year.
Police found the cat with its left eye protruding and blood stains on the nostrils when they visited his flat on the evening of Nov 14.
The 1 1/2-month-old kitten had to be put to sleep for its injuries.
Pleading for leniency, Hooi said he made a 'mistake' and would not do it again.
He could have been fined up to $10,000 or jailed for up to 12 months under the Animals and Birds Act.
It was cat lover Ngiam Mui Wah, 46, who tipped off the police that Hooi might be ill-treating cats.
Ms Ngiam, who is self-employed, went to court to testify as a prosecution witness but did not have to do so as Hooi pleaded guilty to the offence.
She told The Straits Times yesterday that Hooi had been seen torturing cats before.
Ms Ngiam, who is part of a group feeding stray cats in the Bedok area, said a retired school teacher told her last June that she had seen a man strangle a kitten at Block 545 while she was taking a morning walk in the park.
Police were called in but could not find the dead cat.
Ms Ngiam then contacted the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and also made a police report.
Two months later, Ms Ngiam saw a man trying to catch a cat at the void deck of Block 543.
She immediately called the retired teacher who came and identified him as the same person who had killed the kitten last June.
Hooi left before the police came, but residents said he lived on the 11th floor of Block 544.
Ms Ngiam said his neighbours told them they had seen dead cats along the common corridor two to three days earlier.
Ms Ngiam, who has a pet cat, said some neighbours had advised her to let Hooi do what he liked with the stray cats and not to be a busybody.
'I don't agree. If everybody were to think that way, there will be a lot of problems not only to cats but also to human beings as well,' she said.
Ms Deirdre Moss, executive officer of the SPCA, said two cats were picked up from Hooi's flat. One was put up for adoption while the other was the badly injured kitten that had to be put to sleep.
'Although SPCA is not legally empowered to act in cruelty cases, the SPCA will investigate all alleged reports of animal abuse and assist the authorities as in this case,' she said.
Between 2000 and last year, at least five people were jailed for abusing cats and causing their deaths.
elena@sph.com.sg