Animal Welfare

 

What is Animal Welfare

Animal welfare has to do with the safety and wellbeing of animals. According to futurelearn.com, animal welfare encompasses five areas of welfare: (1) freedom from hunger & thirst, (2) freedom from discomfort, (3) freedom from pain, injury or disease, (4) freedom to express normal behaviour, and (5) freedom from fear & distress.

 

According to avma.org, an animal is considered to be in a good state of welfare if it's healthy, comfortable, well-nourished, safe, able to express its innate behaviour and is not suffering from fear, pain and distress.

 

In the Context of Singapore

 

Chasing after high GDP and accumulation of reserves seem to be the topmost priorities in the minds of local politicians. As such, the welfare of both citizens and animals seems to have taken a backseat. This seems to be especially true in the case of stray animals.

In my view, more can be done for animal welfare in the context of Singapore. Do we really want a country where it seems to be progressing economically but yet nothing much seems to be done to ensure the wellbeing of animals? By that, I'm referring to the apparent lack of interest in animal welfare by the government of the day. In contrast, the common folks seem to be more concerned about animal welfare. And that, to me, is so disheartening.

 

 

Animals are living things, like people. Should their lives be deemed to be of lesser worth just because they're animals? They may not be able to contribute to the economic progress of a country, but they do have their place in any society. 

How Can We Ensure the Welfare of Animals?

Education

Educating Children

Educating people about animal welfare from an early age is important. As we know, our values are shaped from young. Moreover, how children treat each other and other things around them is influenced by their parents and other adult figures in their lives. Therefore, it's important for parents and adult figures to teach children the importance of treating animals well from young.

And we can't deny the role of formal education in shaping the values of children, especially given their impressionable nature due to their young age. As such, I think it's important to formalise the education on animal welfare in schools by incorporating it into their curriculum.

Educating Adults

In every society, there are people who have the propensity to abuse animals, as if they derive pleasure by making animals suffer. Such people have sick minds and they probably need psychological intervention to change. At the very least, they should be sent for some kind of mandatory reformative training. 

In my opinion, taking a long-term approach with regard to educating people on animal welfare is crucial to ensure that our society is truly a gracious one where the least among us - the animals living in our midst - are treated well. In this regard, I think it's important for the government to take the lead.

Tough Laws

From what I've read on Facebook, it seems that there are many cat abusers in Singapore. And it makes me wonder if the police are doing anything to make sure that these cat (and other animal) abusers are brought to justice? Are laws pertaining to animal welfare actually enforced? Are there any preventive measures in place?

It seems that there are quite a lot of accidents involving animals in the local context. And it seems that none of the drivers involved bothers to check on the animals that they've hit. Instead, they choose to drive off. Why? 

I've hardly read of hit-and-run accidents involving people. And yet every time I read of an accident involving an animal, it's always a hit-and-run case. Is it because in the eyes of these drivers, animal lives are of no value? Or is it because law enforcement pertaining to animal welfare in the local context is lax?

Maybe it's time for the government to review the laws and/or the effectiveness of laws that pertain to animal welfare? Or maybe it's time for the government to put in place tougher laws with more severe penalties, so that there are fewer animal abuse/neglect cases as well as fewer hit-and-run cases involving animals?

Euthanasia - Is It Really Necessary?

Recently, I read a post on Facebook written by a vet or someone who works at a vet clinic in Singapore. According to the writer, he/she has to put down about five dogs per day (if I remember correctly), including healthy dogs. In my view, there's no justification for euthanising animals that are healthy. In fact, I'm of the view that no one has the right to decide whether an animal gets put down regardless of its health status.

And if the reason for putting animals down is due to overpopulation in shelters, then it's the responsibility of the government to channel funds into building more shelters or expanding existing shelters to accommodate more stray animals. Singapore has many islands that aren't fully utilised. Surely the government could consider building animal shelters in one of these islands, right?

Who are we to know if an animal would rather be put down than stay alive despite its ill health? Do we put people to sleep just because they're suffering from serious illnesses? Obviously no unless they choose to be put to sleep! (Incidentally, euthanasia of people is illegal in Singapore.) So what makes us think that it's ok to put sick animals down? Do pet owners have such a right? Honestly, I don't think so.

I firmly believe that animals understand human language. They might not be able to understand every single word that we utter, but I believe they understand what we're trying to convey to them. Moreover, they can read body language just like us. So if our pets ever fall seriously ill, shouldn't we try to check with them if they prefer to stay alive? And if we don't trust that our pets understand us, maybe we could consider communicating our intentions to end their sufferings via an animal communicator, although I doubt the effectiveness of such a medium of communication.

You might wonder if it's okay to put an animal down because of its aggressive behaviour. Honestly, I don't think so! Surely there are animal trainers who could help and therefore aggressive behaviour isn't a valid reason and shouldn't be used as a reason to put an animal down. We don't put children to sleep just because they're aggressive, right? So why are we euthanising aggressive animals instead of putting them through correction trainings that are geared towards helping them with their aggression?

Policies That are Pro-Animal Welfare

The Housing & Development Board (HDB) has a rule that bans cats in flats. To be honest, I don't understand its logic. The reasons given by HDB don't seem to hold any weight. If dogs are allowed, then cats should be allowed too.

Animals shouldn't be sacrificed because of overpopulation or because land is needed for whatever purposes. Surely there's a better way of dealing with overpopulation. And if indeed overpopulation is an issue, why then are we allowing more foreign talents to come and work? Surely locals are more than capable to do the work of most of these foreigners, but that's beside the point.

If there's overpopulation of animals on the streets, the government should've better policies in place to ensure that it's a non-issue. For instance, why not relax existing policies so that HDB flat dwellers are allowed to own more than one pet dog per household as long as they're financially able to do so? Moreover, if the HDB stops banning cats in flats, there'd be less stray (community) cats on the streets.

 

Conclusion

Animals aren't able to speak up for themselves. Therefore, the responsibility for speaking up on their behalf falls on people - not just pet owners but people in general - especially politicians who have the power to influence a society for good or for bad.

In conclusion, all countries have a moral obligation to ensure the welfare of animals regardless of their economic status. In my view, there's simply no excuse.

 

Cheers,

Annie Chan

(P/s: My next blog post will be published on 21 Aug 2022. Please subscribe to my YouTube channel here: Annie's Music Everywhere. Thanks!:)

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