SINGAPORE - Singapore has started its first programme to trap, neuter and release stray dogs on Jurong Island in a bid to control their population without culling them.
Minister for Law and Foreign Affairs K. Shanmugam said in Facebook post on Friday that the pilot project is a partnership between industrial landlord JTC, which has built a facility on the island to sterilise the dogs, and animal welfare groups, the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres), Action for Singapore Dogs and Save Our StreetDogs.
Mr Shanmugam wrote that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has found that culling street dogs is ineffective in controlling the spread of rabies. Instead, the WHO noted that mass vaccination of street dogs has been proven to be more effective in controlling the disease's spread.
Mr Shanmugam also posted photos of the first female dog on the island to be neutered under the project. "She is physically healthy after the neutering and being microchipped, and happy to be back in familiar surroundings," he said. There are an estimated 300 dogs on the island.
