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MEDIA RELEASE
MR YEO GUAT KWANG, CHAIRMAN, ANIMAL WELFARE LEGISLATION
REVIEW COMMITTEE, TABLES PRIVATE MEMBER’S BILL ON ANIMAL
WELFARE IN PARLIAMENT
Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC and Chairman of the Animal
Welfare Legislation Review Committee (AWLRC), has tabled a Private Member’s Bill
which amends the Animals and Birds Act in the area of animal welfare. This Bill
follows the Government’s acceptance of the committee’s recommendations on
animal welfare in April 2013. The Bill is supported by Members of Parliament, Mr
Alex Yam, Mr Gan Thiam Poh, Mr Vikram Nair and Mr Edwin Tong.
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Mr Yeo said, “It has been a long process in translating the committee’s
recommendations to legislation, as there were many considerations to work through.
The recommendations came from the ground, through the various stakeholder
groups represented in the committee and from public consultations. I am very glad
that we are able to table this Private Member’s Bill today. I wish to thank my fellow
MPs who have worked on the Bill with me and my committee members for their
contributions during this journey.”
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Mr Yeo also commented, “We need to be mindful that there are certainly
many diverse views on animal issues. It is important to balance the varied interests
of the community and prioritize having a harmonious living environment for animals
and animal lovers on the one hand, and those who may not be comfortable with
animals on the other. While the road to raising animal welfare standards is certainly
not over, I hope that this Bill will be an important first step in strengthening animal
welfare in Singapore and making it a shared responsibility by all stakeholders.”
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The Animal Welfare Legislation Review Committee (AWLRC) undertook a
year-long study including stakeholder and public consultations from April 2012 and
submitted its final report and 24 recommendations on animal welfare to the
Government on 1 Mar 2013. The 24 recommendations, which include both legislative
as well as non-legislative proposals, seek to raise animal welfare standards in
Singapore through strengthening animal welfare legislation and enhancing
stakeholders’ collaboration on animal welfare. All 24 recommendations from the
AWLRC were accepted in-principle by the Government in April 2013.
Issued by Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, Chairman, Animal Welfare Legislation Review
Committee
On 7 Oct 2014
APPENDIX
WHAT THE BILL COVERS
The Bill will involve 6 of AWLRC’s recommendations covering the following areas:
•
Requiring owners and persons in charge to provide reasonable care for
animals placed under their charge (recommendations 1, 2)
•
Allowing standards of animal welfare to be set through the adoption of codes
of animal welfare by the Government (recommendation 3)
•
Empowering the Government to issue directives to owners and persons in
charge to improve care of an animal (recommendation 7)
•
Increasing penalties for animal welfare and cruelty offences, in particular for
offences committed by animal-related businesses and repeat offenders
(recommendation 8)
•
Requiring staff working with animals in animal-related businesses to be
trained in animal care and handling (recommendation 11)
HOW THE BILL WILL STRENGTHEN ANIMAL WELFARE The proposed
amendments aim to:
•
Shift the Government’s approach to animal welfare to a “responsive and
preventive” mode where the welfare of animals is met in their day-to-day care
•
Promote animal welfare as a shared responsibility amongst all stakeholders
LIST OF AWLRC’S RECOMMENDATIONS
Responsive and preventive
Shared responsibility by all stakeholders
Thrust I: Ensuring reasonable care
and welfare of animals
Thrust II: Increasing deterrence
and stepping up action against
wrongdoers
Thrust
III:
Fostering
greater
responsibility in industry to ensure
animal welfare
Thrust
IV:
Fostering
greater
responsibility amongst pet owners and
greater community awareness of
animal welfare
Recommendation 1: Amend the
ABA to require the owner or person
in charge of the animal to comply
with a duty of care for the animal.
Recommendation 8: Amend the
ABA to provide a tiered penalty
structure with increased fines and jail
terms, community service and
prohibition orders, as well as a
distinct
penalty
structure
for
corporate bodies.
Recommendation 11: Amend the
ABA to require operators and staff of
all other pet-related businesses in
addition to pet shops and pet farms to
undergo appropriate training on animal
care and handling. In line with this, the
current training curriculum should be
reviewed and updated.
Recommendation
18:
Increase
stakeholder
collaboration
on
RPO
education of pet owners and would-be pet
buyers.
Recommendation 2: Amend the
ABA to clearly define that duty of
care by the owner or person in
charge of the animal is meeting the
needs of the animal and what
constitutes the animal’s needs.
Recommendation 3: Amend the
ABA to enable codes of animal
welfare to be adopted by the
government to set standards for
animal welfare in Singapore.
Recommendation 4: Further build
awareness and understanding of
animal behaviour in anyone who
deals with animals.
Recommendation 5: Amend the
ABA to provide powers for the
Recommendation 9: Implement
initiatives to encourage witnesses of
suspected animal welfare and cruelty
cases to come forward to assist in
the investigation and to testify in
court. This should include publicising
the type of evidence witnesses can
provide.
Recommendation 10: Actively raise
the profile of successfully prosecuted
animal welfare and cruelty cases to
act as a deterrent.
Recommendation 12: Set a minimum
age of 16 years old for buying a pet
and include this requirement as a
condition of licensing for pet shops and
pet farms selling pets.
Recommendation 13: Include presale screening as a condition of
licensing for pet shops and pet farms
selling pets.
Recommendation
14:
Increase
publicity on pet shop grades,
conditions of pet shop licensing and
best practises, and publish cases of
recalcitrant pet shop offenders to help
Recommendation 19: Further develop
and extend mediation-cum-engagement
programmes through multi-stakeholder
collaboration for implementation in various
areas and constituencies to help resolve
animal-related local disputes.
Recommendation
20:
Enhance
awareness and educate the public on
their proper behaviours towards animals
to minimise misunderstanding between
pet owners and the community, and better
manage animal-human conflicts.
Recommendation 21: Raise awareness
through multi-stakeholder collaboration on
other recommendations in this report (e.g.
requirement for duty of care, codes of
animal welfare when formulated, new
requirements relating to pet businesses,
government to specify restricted acts
to be performed on animals.
pet buyers make informed decisions
when buying pets.
Recommendation 6: Amend the
ABA to make attempts to cause or
subject an animal to cruelty an
offence.
Recommendation
15:
License
commercial pet breeding activities.
This means breeding activities outside
of pet farms to also be regulated.
Recommendation 7: Amend the
ABA to provide powers for the
government to issue directives to
persons to improve the care of an
animal.
Recommendation 16: License pet
boarding facilities providing overnight
or longer stay for pets.
list of licensed pet boarding facilities, etc).
Recommendation 22: Where feasible
and appropriate, Residents’ Committees
could consider setting up neighbourhood
watch groups on animal-related matters,
as well as organise animal welfare-related
awareness activities.
Recommendation 17: Implement
industry-led accreditation schemes for
pet groomers, pet farms and breeders,
as well as pet shops. The accreditation
guidelines would be above and beyond
regulatory requirements.
Recommendation 23: Align the definition of “animals” in the Road Traffic Act with the definition in the ABA.
Recommendation 24: Establish a multi-stakeholder collaboration committee on animal welfare, comprising representatives from the government, industry,
community, animal welfare groups and the veterinary profession. The terms of reference of this committee will be to build up mutual understanding on animal
welfare through sharing of views and to strengthen multi-stakeholder collaboration to promote animal welfare in Singapore.
COMPOSITION OF ANIMAL WELFARE LEGISLATION REVIEW COMMITTEE
1.
Mr Yeo Guat Kwang
(Committee Chairman)
Member of Parliament, Ang Mo Kio GRC
2.
Mr Alex Yam
Member of Parliament, Chua Chu Kang
GRC
3.
Mr Gan Thiam Poh
Member of Parliament, Pasir Ris-Punggol
GRC
4.
Ms Corrine Fong
Executive Director, Singapore Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
5.
Mr Louis Ng
Executive Director, Animal Concerns
Research & Education Society
6.
Dr Siew Tuck Wah
President, Save Our Street Dogs
7.
Dr Cathy Chan
Representative from Singapore Veterinary
Association
8.
Mr Eric Lim
Representative from Pet Enterprises and
Traders Association of Singapore
9.
Mr Chua Ming Kok
Representative from Pet Enterprises and
Traders Association of Singapore
10.
Mr Clarence Tan Kok Cheow
General Manager, Chua Chu Kang Town
Council
11.
Mr Lakshmanan s/o
Nagarajan (deceased)
Chairman, Woodgrove Zone 9 RC and
Auditor, Woodgrove CCC