AVS reviewing law to bolster safeguards on animal welfare

Code for pet industry also under review to address negligence in areas like grooming

- Judith Tan

To strengthen its safeguards on animal health and welfare, as well as public health and safety, the Animal & Veterinary Service (AVS) is reviewing the Animals and Birds Act.

AVS, a cluster within the National Parks Board (NParks), is also reviewing its Code of Animal Welfare for the pet industry to address negligence in areas such as grooming and boarding.

These moves are being made five years after the agency embarked on its first review in August 2019, after animal-related functions of the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority were transferred to NParks.

Speaking to The Straits Times, Dr Chang Siow Foong, director-general of AVS, said: "(The reviews) will include penalties under the (Animals and Birds) Act, to ensure that they remain effective in deterring acts of animal cruelty and abuse."

The review comes in the wake of several cases that made the news in the last few years. Recently, in what prosecutors called "one of the worst cases of animal cruelty", Barrie Lin Pengli, 32, was charged in court after he vented his frustrations by abusing cats in the Ang Mo Kio area.

Besides kicking and suffocating them, he also killed two cats by throwing them off high floors at Housing Board blocks. The prosecution has asked for 24 months' jail. Lin will be sentenced on Nov 13.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals reported in October 2023 that it investigated 862 cases of cruelty and welfare concerns between July 2022 and June 2023 – the highest since the same period between 2011 and 2012.