This two-month-old chihuahua, which cost its original owner a $10,000 fine, has found a new home. -- PHOTO: AVA

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The two-month-old male pooch's new owner got it for free, but it had cost the original owner more than $10,000.

On April 16, student Liu Liangwu, 21, was fined $10,000, the maximum penalty for importing an animal without a licence.

He had paid more than $600 for it in Johor and tried to smuggle it through the Woodlands Checkpoint on Dec 24 last year.

The dog was found when his car was searched.

The court ruled that he could not keep the puppy, and it was handed over to the AVA for quarantine.

AVA spokesman Goh Shih Yong told The Sunday Times last Friday that the pup was healthy, and had been microchipped and vaccinated for rabies.

When it was put up for adoption, 23 people expressed an interest. 'We placed them through a selection process to choose the best owner for the puppy,' Mr Goh said.

This included an interview and a check of the would-be owner's home before the dog was released.

It was adopted and licensed last Friday.

The AVA did not want to say who the pooch's new owner was.

On the severity of Liu's offence, the AVA said that rabies, which can start from an infected dog, is fatal to both humans and animals.

Said Mr Goh: 'You need only one infected dog smuggled into the country to cause an outbreak of rabies.'

Liu could not be reached for comment.

sameng@sph.com.sg

Former NKF chairman Richard Yong misses the dog he left behind when he fled Singapore

Ge Ge, I miss you.

The shih-tzu which belonged to former National Kidney Foundation (NKF) chairman Richard Yong has since been adopted by someone else.

Now, Yong, who was a fugitive from the law but has come back, hopes to contact Ge Ge's owner so he can say hello to his former pet.

He told The Sunday Times: 'Now that I'm out of prison, I really want to know where Ge Ge is. She was very close to me and my wife.'

Yong, 66, fled with his wife last May when he was declared a bankrupt for failing to pay nearly $1 million to NKF after losing a civil suit.

He was caught by Hong Kong police on July 4 last year and sent back.

He was sentenced to 15 months' jail in September. Due to good behaviour, he was released and has been placed on the Home Detention scheme since Jan 10 this year.

He is currently employed in the office of a Chinese restaurant.

Apart from cash, a car and property which he left behind when he fled, Ge Ge was found in his Cavenagh Gardens apartment, looked after by a maid.

About a month after Yong fled, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) went to the flat to pick up the dog. This was after the Filipino maid said she wanted to return home.

SPCA spokesman Deirdre Moss declined to reveal where the dog is now. 'All I can say is that it has already been adopted,' she said last week.

When contacted, an amiable Yong insisted that he never meant to abandon his dog of five years.

'When we left, we asked the maid to look after Ge Ge because we will be back,' he said.

He added he would dearly love to see Ge Ge, whose name means princess in Mandarin.

He said: 'If her current owners are good to her, it wouldn't be fair to ask for her back now.'

When asked whether he loved his dog, he replied: 'Of course I do.'

Samantha Eng

Did you adopt Ge Ge and would like Richard Yong to see her? Let us know by e-mailing suntimes@sph.com.sg and we will arrange a meeting