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| He might be only a part of your life, but for him, you are his everything, the only person in his whole life. Amos was abandoned and a member of the public saw some people kicking him around like a soccer ball. |
Dogs are by nature domestic animals. They've been bred to be companions for humans. Even feral stray dogs, who have lived their entire lives on the streets, struggle hard to survive.
There's no question about it, abandoned pet dogs will never stand a chance. They know nothing about living on their own. How will they survive even a day? Where would they find food and water? Do they know how to cross the road safely without being killed by a car?
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| Charlotte, so pretty and yet was abandoned and tied at a multi-storey car park. |
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| Calrose was blind and abandoned on the streets. Fortunately, he didn't get into any traffic accidents. |
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| Benji was discarded during the Lunar New Year spring cleaning and fortunately picked up by HOPE |
Unfortunately, abandonment of pets in Singapore is easy. More often than not, microchipped dogs are not registered, so their owners cannot be traced. In cases where the microchip is registered, authorities would simply return a "lost" dog to its owner, with no penalty. This is what happens even when we see obvious signs of neglect – the dogs are returned to their owners be abused and abandoned again.
Laws on pet abandonment are seldom enforced. Very often, perpetrators get away scot free and unpunished. When they are questioned, many of them claim that their dogs accidentally slipped out of the house, or they'd blame someone for carelessly leaving the gate open. They pretend to take the dogs back, but then they just turn around again and abandon their dogs somewhere else. When they start thinking of a dog as garbage, they'll never stop thinking of ways to throw it out.
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| Cotton was found in this state. No one would have guessed she was a Maltese and was probably abandoned because she suffered from seizures. |
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| Sunny, a senior Shihtzu was found abandoned in an industrial estate |
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| Walter, abandoned and tied overnight at a park bench and discovered by joggers in the early hours |
But dogs are not objects, to be bought and thrown away. They are living beings, with feelings just like us. They love their owners unconditionally, trusting that their owners will love them too. Their owners are everything that they will ever know, from birth to death. All their experiences in the outside world - at the beach, in the park, at the groomer and at the horrible vet -. they share with their owners. You have a life outside of them, you have friends and colleagues, countries to visit, places to see; but to them, you are their whole life.
Please, help us to ensure that all dog owners continue to be responsible for their pets. If you know someone whose circumstances really make it impossible to keep their dog, advise them to let go of their pet in a humane way by finding them a new home. It’s easy to ask around through social media. With just a little bit of effort, you can save someone's pet. You may also approach animal welfare groups for help in the rehoming process.
Prevent pet abandonment. Don't throw life away.
