Pet shop owner fined $5,000 for breeding kittens in house without licence
An inspection of a home near Grange Road in August last year uncovered 70 cats kept in metal cages at a shed behind the house, a court heard.
The resident, a licensed pet shop owner, had been illegally breeding kittens in her home to supply for sale at her pet shop in Holland Village.
At the State Courts on Wednesday (9 January), the pet shop owner, Lo Pia Yong, 69, was fined $5,000. She pleaded guilty to one charge of keeping an animal farm to breed cats without a licence.
15 kittens of various breeds
On 15 August last year, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) of Singapore inspected Lo’s home in One Tree Hill.
Officers from AVA, who were acting on a complaint by a neighbour, found the 70 cats in metal cages including 15 kittens of various breeds.
Five of the cats were kept for breeding purposes. They were kept in individual cages with their kittens, except for one Abyssinian cat, which was in its late stage of pregnancy.
Lo, who owns All Breeds Pets in Jalan Merah Saga in Holland Village, had been keeping cats for the past 30 years, AVA prosecutor Yap Teck Chuan told the court.
The last batch of three kittens were sent to Lo’s pet shop for sale in July last year, the prosecutor said.
For contravening the Animals and Birds (Licensing of Farms) Rules, by keeping an animal farm without an AVA licence, Lo could have been fined up to $10,000 and jailed up to one year.
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