Loving Animals For Life! (:

About Us

Our Aim

Latest Surveys

Latest Interviews

Things you need to know

Pet Care

CHIT CHAT

Pictures/ Videos

Others

WELCOME!

HEY! We are a group of students from TANJONG KATONG GIRLS SCHOOL and we are trying to raise the awareness on animal abuse. To narrow it down a bit more, we are focusing on animal abandonment. We realized that cases on animal abandonment have been increasing over the years and we have to do something about this. Hence, the chosen topic for our Community Problem Solving project work which has taken place since in the early year of 2008. We hope that through this, we would be able to do our part in saving the poor animals. Support us in our mission as animal heroes!

Feel free to look around and ask any questions you want to know. (:

Latest Surveys Conducted

This survey took place in our school: Tanjong Katong Girls' School. 36 students and staffs were involved in this survey. Topic for the survey was Raising (Animal) Awareness.

(click on the graph for a bigger view)

About Us

HEY! We are a group of students from TANJONG KATONG GIRLS SCHOOL and we are
on a project trying to raise the awareness on animal abuse.
We are called the Sphinx. This project is actually named Community Problem Solving (CmPS).
As the name suggests it, we had to choose a topic which concerned the
community. Therefore, we chose animal abuse. Narrowing it down a bit more, we are focusing
on animal abandonment. This is so as we realised that cases on animal abandonment
have been increasing over the years and we thought we could do something about this.
Hence, the chosen topic for our CmPS project work which has taken place since the early part of
year 2008. We hope that through this, we would be able to do our part in saving the poor animals.
Support us in our mission as animal heroes! (:

Our Aim

Throughout this whole project, we hope to be able to raise awareness on our topic to public,
do our best in trying to lessen the cases regarding animal abuse and abandonment
and most importantly to let owners know the sacrifices they have to make when they own a pet.We chose this topic also because we felt that animals
too have the rights to live in a proper surroundings. Stray animals are neither tame nor clean and this is why they should be cared for and be given a proper home to live in.

Things you need to know!

More and more animals are abandoned every year. This includes all kinds of pet animals such as dogs, cats, hamsters etc.. The numbers have been steadily increasing over the past few years and not many are taking this matter seriously.

Animals are also like us; they too need to be cared, fed and most importantly, showered with love. You should probably do a research on the type of animals you want to keep as a pet before owning it.

NEVER, buy or adopt an animal on impulse. This means, you’re only buying it when you feel like it or, when you seem to feel out of place when everyone owns a pet but you don’t. You have to know of the consequences of being a pet owner.

Therefore, you have to realise that being a pet owner is not an easy task. At certain times, you will need to sacrifice your time for its daily needs. So make sure you really know what to do before deciding on owning a pet.

You should also know that animal shelters are lacking of space to take in more animals. Most animals given to them have to be put to sleep if not given away. Even though they do not wish to do so, they have no alternative choice as there are just too many animals for them to handle.

Big Companies such as Gillette Co. & Pantene use animals to test their products before releasing them. Not many are aware of this matter. This is one of the activities which we are really against with. How would the testers feel if they are the ones being tested instead of the animals?

Some dogs too have gone through plastic surgery. It is called 'Ear Cropping'- to make the ear of the dogs the way the owners want to. Even though it is illegal by law in most countries, some pet owners have made their pets gone through all this just to make their dog's ear look the way they(owner) wants it to be.

If caught abusing pets, actions will be taken against you. You might be jailed, fined, or BOTH. (ABUSERS ARE LOSERS.:D )

Do take care of your pets!

-Articles on Animal Abuse

ROME : Walk the dog or pay $1,000 fine (adapted from ST 24th Apr 05)

Dog owners in Turin will be fined up to 500 euros if they do not walk their pets at least 3 times a day, under a new law to be introduced by the city's council. People will also be banned from dyeing their pets' fur or "any form of animal mutilation" for merely aesthetic motives. "In Turin, it will be illegal to turn one's dog into a ridiculous fluffy toy," the city's La Stampa daily reported Dogs may be led for walks by people on bicycles, the rules say, "but not in a way that would tire the animal too much". Italy considers itself an animal-loving nation & in many cities stray cats are protected by law. Still some 150,000 pet dogs and 200,000 cats are abandoned in the country every year, according to animal rights groups. They add that the new rules are laws which dogs would write if they are lawyers. Italians can already be fined up to 10,000 Euros and spend a year in prison if found guilty of torturing or abandoning their pets, but Turin's new rules go into much greater detail. To enforce the law, Turin police would rely largely on the help of tipsters spotting cruel treatment by their neighbours.

Lesson: Though the fine is not applied to Singapore, take care of them! Laws might change anytime.

Please take note!
the following are not for dogs:
1) Mango
2) Pineapple
3) Star fruit
4) Grape

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Pets are our best friends and help us when in need:

DVD-sniffing dogs on the prowl (adapted from ST 7th May 06)

Beware, smugglers of bootleg movies. 2 Labradors have been trained as the world's 1st DVD-sniffing dogs, a trade group said. Lucky & Flo got their 1st major test at London's Stansted airport & immediately identified packages & parcels containing DVDs for destinations in Britain, the Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact) said. It said the dogs could detect DVDs in boxes, envelopes & other packaging, or hidden in other goods. Faithful dog saves newborn in Taiwan (adapted from Channelnewsasia forum 6th Jan 06) Taipei - A female husky puppy saved the life of a Taiwanese newborn by snatching him out of the toilet after his mother gave birth alone at home and collapsed, a social worker said on Friday. The 24-year-old single mother, identified only as Huang, did not feel well on Sunday and went to the bathroom. She did not realise that she was in labour as the baby was not due for another five days, said the social worker. The woman gave birth to a baby boy into the toilet and managed to cut the umbilical cord with a small pair of scissors before collapsing on the floor, too weak to call for help from her roommate, she said. But her faithful dog, named Baby, snatched up the infant's leg with her mouth and rescued him from drowning, said the social worker, holding the baby in her arms as the dog paced around at their temporary shelter in a charity home in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan. "The dog approached her owner, who was lying on the ground in a pool of blood, and saw the infant... she snatched up the baby's leg with her mouth and rescued him from drowning," she said. When the boy finally breathed and cried out after the dog licked him on the face, Huang managed to call for help. Doctors said both the mother and infant were healthy. However, due to financial difficulties, the mother was giving both her baby boy and the life-saving 10-month-old dog away for adoption, said the social worker.

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Case study: ( a particular person who abused pets)

Man jailed 3 months for torturing kitten till its eye protruded (adapted from ST 7th Mar 06)

A man who rubbed the eyes of a kitten & beat its head was jailed for 3 months yesterday for animal abuse. David Hooi Yin Weng, 42, pleaded guilty to torturing a female black-and-white kitten at his rented flat in Blk 544, Bedok North St 3 on Nov 14 last year. Police found the cat with its left eye protruding & blood stains on the nostrils when they visited his flat on the evening of Nov 14. The 1.5 month-old kitten had to be put to sleep for its injuries. Pleading for leniency, Hooi said he made a "mistake" & would not do it again. He could have been fined up to $10,000 or jailed up to 12 months under the Animals & 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 ST 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 Jun that she had seen a man strangle a kitten at Blk 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 SPCA & also made a police report. 2 months later, Ms Ngiam saw a man tryting to catch a cat at the void deck of Blk 543. She immediately called the retired teacher who came & identified him as the same person who had killed the kitten last Jun. Hooi left before the police came, but residents said he lived on the 11th floor of Blk 544. Ms Ngiam said his neighbours told them they had seen dead cats along the common corridor 2 to 3 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 & not be a busybody. "Ii 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 2 cats were picked up from Hooi's flat. 1 was out 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 cruetly cases, the SPCA will investigate all alleged reports of animal abuse & assist the authorities as in this case," she said. Between 2000 & last year, at least 5 people were jailed for abusing cats & causing their deaths.

Lesson: Do not abuse pets, even if you think no one knows… Walls have ears!

Pet Care

Below is a little summary on how much you'll need to spent on average every month for your pets. Another thing you need to be sure of is if you are financially stabil to afford all these necessities for your pets!

Basic grooming:
-small breed $18 onwards
-medium breed $28 onwards
Large breeds $48 onwards

Health care:
-ear cleaning $5 onwards
-dental scaling $80 onwards
-teeth brushing $6
-nail cutting $8 onwards

Latest Interviews

Interviewer: Michelle Interviewee: Ryan Tan
What kind of house do you live in? (Michelle) I live in a two-storey terrace with a porch and a backyard. (Ryan Tan)
Which type of animals have you kept as a pet before? I’ve owned dogs, rabbits, hamsters and fishes as pets before.
How long has your current pet(s) been with you? 6years. I currently own 2 rabbits. And they live at a special fenced up area in my porch. Approximate area would be 4.9 squared metres.
How much time do you spend with your pet? My pet is shared amongst my whole family. On average, we spend around 5 hours with our pet weekly. We’ll bring them for a walk around the playground every weekend and we clear their litter bins and place fresh sheets of newspaper in their home twice a week.
Where did you get your pet from? What made you want to buy/adopt it? I adopted my pet from SPCA. My mother was hoping that my brother, sister and I will learn how to be responsible for the things we have. But my siblings also adopted them because they were too cute to resist. When we first bought them, they could fit into our pencil cases easily, but now, they’ve grown but we still love them as much as before.
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Interviewer: Michelle Interviewee: Chan Rui Ying
What kind of house do you live in? (Michelle) I live in a 2-storey semi-detached. (Chan Rui Ying)
>Which type of animals have you kept as a pet before? I’ve kept fishes, dogs, cats and a bird. But I only kept the bird for three months or so as my parents found it injured on the pavement outside my house, then we brought to the vet. The vet said that it only has a few months to live before it died and that it was probably attacked by a cat.
How long has your current pet(s) been with you? My current pets have been with me for 3 to 6 years. Actually, I only had one Maltese but it gave birth to 5 puppies. I sold 2, gave away 1 to my cousin and kept the other 2. The two puppies have been around for 3 years and the puppies’ mother has been with me for 6 years.
How much time do you spend with your pet? I spend 3 and a half hours daily with my pets. My mother is a home tuition teacher and the dogs are around with her almost 24/7 everyday. We allow the dogs to roam freely around in the house. The indoor area. And they are very cute, when you are doing your work or watching TV, they’ll just sit beside you and watch you or take a nap by you. So it is impossible not to spend time with them.
Where did you get your pet from? What made you want to buy/adopt it? Oh, I got my Maltese from nearby pet shop from my house. I’ve not had a dog for 4 years and the Maltese was very cute. She was very lively and awake as compared to the other dogs in the shop. And coming to think of it, the dogs would never be left alone as my mum’s a teacher at home, we’ve got a maid and my father works from home too. And, most importantly, we are all dog lovers.
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Interviewer: Michelle Interviewee: Prefers to remain anonymous
What kind of house do you live in? (Michelle) A 4-room HDB flat. (Anonymous one)
Which type of animals have you kept as a pet before? Cats, hamsters, dogs and fishes.
How long has your current pet(s) been with you? My 7 year old dachshund has been with me since … 2001. An hour a day. I’m very busy with my work and I reach home very late everyday. I don’t have much time for myself even. But my dog is very obedient and I bathe him four times a week.
Where did you get your pet from? What made you want to buy/adopt it? I got my pet from the pet shop a few blocks away from my house. The dachshund was so cute and small then. When I first laid eyes on him, I just had this sudden urge to buy him. He really was a cute little puppy.
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Interviewer: Michelle
Interviewee: Naomi Lim

What kind of house do you live in? (Michelle) A four-storey bungalow. (Naomi Lim)
Which type of animals have you kept as a pet before? I’ve kept a dog, fishes, hamsters, and cats before.
How long has your current pet(s) been with you? Around 3 to 4 years. My black cat, Ricky, has been with me for years. During that time, I fell in love with cats all of a sudden and I wanted to get Ricky a partner to play with too so, I got a white cat, Cream Shake, to be Ricky’s playmate.
How much time do you spend with your pet? I spend 4 hours with my cats daily. My parents allow them to roam around indoors as there is a swimming pool outdoors and who knows what may happen. My maid spends the most time with Ricky and Cream Shake. But every time I reach home, the first thing I would do is to check on my cats. I bathe and clear their litter boxes very regularly, on alternate days. As I know that cats like to be clean and I want the best for my Ricky and my Cream Shake.
Where did you get your pet from? What made you want to buy/adopt it? I adopted Ricky from SPCA and bought Cream Shake from a pet store 500m from my house. My parents are both working and I have 2 sisters whom I used to quarrel with everyday. So my parents decided that maybe we should get a pet that would occupy our time rather than quarrelling. They wanted us to learn how to share and wanted the house to be more positive than negative, eg filled with arguments. Eventually, I think our pet really served its purpose. Now, my sisters and I are always spending time happily with each other and our cats.