This article was first published on June 28. 2017 and updated on Nov 17, 2017.
SINGAPORE - How many animals can a Housing Board flat take? Nearly 100 cats and hundreds of mice, as recent cases of animal hoarding showed.
It was reported on Wednesday (Nov 15) that a 47-year-old man was fined $2,750 for operating an unlicensed pet shop housed in a Housing Board flat.
Upon inspecting his Jurong West flat, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) had found 27 caged parrots.
Often in such cases, but not always, the animals are found in bad physical and health conditions.
Tampines: Hundreds of mice
A woman and her son started with three fancy mice and ended up with hundreds a few years later.
Voices for Animals helped to rescue dozens of the animals from the Tampines flat in April 2017.
There were also 23 rabbits and some love birds sharing the house with the mice.
Sengkang: 94 cats
A total of 94 cats were kept in decrepit conditions in a three-room flat in Fernvale Link.
After neighbours made repeated complaints to the Housing Board about the cats, HDB sent a letter to the mother and son living there and asked them to remove the animals.
HDB then roped in Cat Welfare Society (CWS) and the AVA to help.
Woodlands: 45 cats
This family moved to a bigger house and hired a maid to help take care of their cats, but they were threatened with eviction if they kept the animals.
The 45, all of whom have names, were sent to a cat shelter or fostered out, it was reported in January.
The family kept 10 animals, but planned to put up more for adoption.
Yishun: 39 cats
A woman was sentenced to two weeks' jail last November for her failure to care for her 39 pet cats.
The felines at her Yishun home were all in poor physical condition and health.
Four died later due to underlying medical conditions, while another had to be euthanised due to bad health.
Chun Tin Road: 30 dogs
The owner of a pet grooming school was jailed six weeks for abandoning 18 pedigree dogs in September last year.
He kept about 30 dogs in the basement of a shop in Chun Tin Road after his pet breeding business closed down.
When he was told he could not keep the dogs there by the authorities, he abandoned 18 dogs in various locations around Singapore.
Jurong West: 27 parrots
A 47-year-old man was fined $2,750 on Nov 15 for operating an unlicensed pet shop housed in a Housing Board flat.
AVA found 27 caged parrots in Tan Lai Hock's Jurong West flat, after acting on feedback on alleged poor living conditions and the illegal sale of birds.
