SINGAPORE: A man charged with causing pain and suffering to his pet dog by failing to take it to a vet implored a judge on Wednesday (Mar 6) to consider his lifestyle in a “kampung”.
Khor Lian Huat, a 61-year-old man who lives on Pulau Ubin, was handed one count of failing to take a brown mixed-breed dog for immediate treatment when he saw maggots in a wound in its claw.
This lack of action allegedly led to the dog being warded at a veterinary centre for 10 days. Its claw almost had to be amputated.
Khor, who was unrepresented, told the court that the prosecutors initially offered him a composition fine of S$1,000 and he had come to court to ask for it to be reduced to S$500.
To his surprise, he found out that the National Parks Board (NParks) prosecutors were now seeking S$5,000.
In response, the prosecutor said Khor had failed to pay the composition fine of S$1,000 despite repeated reminders, which was why they were charging him in court on Wednesday.
Speaking via a Mandarin interpreter, Khor protested: “Because my house is in Pulau Ubin. I stay in Pulau Ubin. They use the laws for pet dogs to charge me when I’m in kampung.”
“So what’s the difference in the law in Ubin and the law in Singapore?” asked District Judge Lorraine Ho.
“Outside my house there are a lot of monkeys,” replied Khor.
“So what if there are a lot of monkeys,” replied Judge Ho. “Is this charge about monkeys?”
Khor said he hoped the judge could “understand the lifestyle of people like us who live in the village”.
The judge then looked at the charge again and read it out to Khor, emphasising the risk of amputation and how the dog was warded at a veterinary centre for 10 days.
“That’s really when an animal is really, really injured, that’s number one. I don’t think that the animals – whether they live in the village or live in the city – they should be left in such an injured (state) to the point that they have to be hospitalised for 10 days and almost have to lose a limb,” said the judge.
She told Khor that the prosecution was initially willing to compound the matter if he paid, and it was only when he refused to pay that court proceedings commenced.
“Once the matter comes to court, the court fine will be higher.”
She adjourned the case to April and told Khor to make representations to the prosecution to see if they would re-offer composition to him.
If convicted of unreasonably omitting to do an act which caused unnecessary pain and suffering to his dog, Khor could be jailed for up to 18 months, fined up to S$15,000, or both.
He could also be disqualified from owning pets for a period of time.