SINGAPORE - An animal welfare group's undercover investigation revealed that pet shops and farms here have flouted the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority's (AVA) license conditions for displaying and selling cats and dogs.

The Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) conducted an investigation on 41 randomly selected pet shops and farms from March to May this year.

Of the 29 pet shops checked, 11 breached one or more of the basic animal welfare conditions - such as providing a large enough cage and clean water for the animals. Of this 11, seven had received an 'A' grade from AVA in February.

Ten of the 12 pet farms displaying and selling dogs and cats breached more than one of the requirements. Unlike pet shops, pet farms are not evaluated with a grading system by AVA.

Acres has submitted the findings to AVA for further investigations.