The Price Paid for Four Abandoned Cats in Singapore

On the 6th of January 2021, a 45 year old woman, Zariyah, was fined $4,000 and was banned from owning pets for 6 months after she abandoned four pet cats in the fear that they could spread COVID-19. She was eligible to be fined for up to $10,000, jailed for up to a year, and banned from keeping pets for a year, due to her breaking of the animal and birds act.

The original incident happened at 9 PM on March 28, 2020. Zariyah believed that she could not take care of the cats, and released them from their cages at the letterbox area at Block 31 of Marsiling Drive. This drew the attention of many passersby who questioned her decision to release these cats. While the cats were malnourished and in danger of physical harm, two of them were eventually adopted by passersby, while the other two were taken in by the SPCA, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. This led to a complaint being made to the National Parks Board about this situation which eventually led to the case being taken to a judge.

However, the more concerning reason that Zariyah abandoned her cats was her fear that they could spread COVID-19, the global pandemic that has killed over 3 million to date. According to an epidemiologist from the World Health Organization (WHO), pets and animals are actually “not believed to play a role in transmission to humans”, deeming Zariyah’s reason for abandoning her former pet cats to be unreasonable. In a day and age where information is available anywhere online, Zariyah’s ignorance and neglect is certainly very concerning.

Proper animal and pet care is extremely important. Pet owners should be sure that they have the proper information and ability to take care of animals before adopting an animal. In this specific incident, the pet owner completely failed her duties of protecting animals, as she neglected to get the proper research before making a decision that would not have been fair even if cats were capable of transmitting the disease. For owners who are unaware and have developed concerns about their pets’ wellbeing, a more suitable resolution would be to contact an animal protection organization, like SPCA. Due to the inability of many pet owners to take care of their pets properly, just like Zariyah in this situation, many incidents of animal cruelty and neglect occur all around the world. We must learn from this experience to make sure these owners get the proper information and research done to make sure that their pets get the treatment that they need, and to help decrease the number of incidents of animal cruelty to help give pets around the world the life they deserve.