Stop feeding stray dogs in Bukit Batok, public urged
Rat woes blamed on leftovers; SPCA says feeding can be left to core group
By Danson Cheong And Linette Lai, The Straits Times, 24 Dec 2014
Rat woes blamed on leftovers; SPCA says feeding can be left to core group
By Danson Cheong And Linette Lai, The Straits Times, 24 Dec 2014
THE Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has urged the public to support a core group of dog feeders taking care of stray dogs on the forested hill beside the Bukit Batok MRT station and refrain from feeding the dogs themselves.
Animal welfare groups said two groups of feeders operate in the area, a core group on a routine scheduled programme, and another group of indiscriminate feeders they say are to blame for befouling the area with leftover food.
SPCA executive director Corinne Fong said the six to eight core feeders have worked with the Jurong Town Council since July last year to feed, trap, neuter and re-home the stray dogs. When they began, there were 10 adults and two puppies, but about six have been re-homed, she said.
The approved feeders work in a locked, fenced-in area and clean up after they are done, she said.
The hill, as big as a football field, has come under scrutiny after an operation to wipe out a rat infestation began last week.
About 200 rats have been killed as of Monday night, and the situation has improved greatly, said the Housing Board, which manages the plot of land. Pest controllers are using infra-red cameras to monitor the remaining rats.
The infestation was blamed on leftover scraps from the indiscriminate feeding of stray dogs.
"We did surveillance and have seen cars drive by, stop by the side of the road and toss food on the side of the hill," said Ms Fong.
The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) has received some 100 complaints on stray dogs and the feeding of them at Bukit Batok Central and its vicinity from January to November.
The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) has received some 100 complaints on stray dogs and the feeding of them at Bukit Batok Central and its vicinity from January to November.
"While the feeding of stray animals is well intended, feeding becomes an offence when it causes littering of the environment," said an AVA spokesman.
But the furore appears to have forced this group of feeders to stop their activities for now.
One of them, who wanted to be known only as Betty, said she takes turns to feed the dogs with three others. She told The Straits Times they are sometimes chased away before they can clean up. "I told my friend, I give up already. We are doing something good here but I feel like a criminal running around," she said.
Show tolerance to community animals: SPCA
I REFER to the letters by Dr George Wong Seow Choon ("Concerted effort needed to tackle rat problem"; Monday) and Ms Dipa Swaminathan ("Dog feeders just showing they care"; Forum Online, Monday).
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) is heartened to note the genuine care that many well-intentioned dog feeders exhibit.
We dispute the notion that community dogs are ultimately responsible for the rodent infestation in Bukit Batok, and thus disagree with Dr Wong's suggestion for the SPCA and Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority to "trap and remove all the stray dogs in the area".
We dispute the notion that community dogs are ultimately responsible for the rodent infestation in Bukit Batok, and thus disagree with Dr Wong's suggestion for the SPCA and Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority to "trap and remove all the stray dogs in the area".
We must recognise that the community dogs have no place to go. While the SPCA and other animal welfare groups have tried their best to house the dogs, they face space and resource constraints.
For the record, the SPCA does not round up healthy animals from the streets, unless they are injured, ill or distressed.
Often, members of the public have been observed casually feeding the dogs without cleaning up the leftover food.
There is already a core group of community feeders and caregivers tending to the dogs' basic nutritional needs and care, and they would be happy to help in resolving any issues concerning the dogs.
Community animals are part of our living environment. The only homes many of them have known are the streets and housing estates that they have lived in all this while. Removing them could create a void that would be filled by another group sooner or later.
In the light of this issue, which has understandably brought differing viewpoints to the fore, the SPCA asks for tolerance with regard to community animals that share the environment with us. A little more empathy would go a long way.
Corinne Fong (Ms)
Executive Director
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Singapore
ST Forum, 27 Dec 2014
Corinne Fong (Ms)
Executive Director
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Singapore
ST Forum, 27 Dec 2014
Feed, catch, neuter to control numbers of strays
By Danson Cheong, The Straits Times, 24 Dec 2014
THE aroma hits you even with the doors of the vacant Defu Lane factory lot half shut - 5kg of white rice steaming in a cooker with roast pork, chicken and duck bones.
By Danson Cheong, The Straits Times, 24 Dec 2014
THE aroma hits you even with the doors of the vacant Defu Lane factory lot half shut - 5kg of white rice steaming in a cooker with roast pork, chicken and duck bones.
"It smells so good, even I feel like eating it sometimes," said Madam Tay Mei Mei, 44, in Mandarin.
The food is not meant for people, but for about 100 stray dogs that Madam Tay feeds every day in the Kim Chuan and Defu Lane area.
Her goal is to gain their trust so they can eventually be sterilised.
Around 70 per cent have been neutered so far.
"Once the dogs get familiar with me, I can catch them and send them to the vet to be sterilised," said the housewife, who sometimes gets nearby factory workers to help her.
Animal welfare groups say this is the most effective way to get stray dog populations under control, and Madam Tay has been doing it for about six years now.
She said that she got the idea after spotting a factory worker sharing a packet of rice with three dogs in the area.
"I just had dinner at a restaurant nearby when I saw it. That broke my heart," she said.
In the vacant factory lot, which she is allowed to use free, she stores around 30 cartons of dog food, and every morning and afternoon she scoops out the day's rice into plastic bags and tubs.
She makes her rounds in a pickup truck, and the dogs come out wagging their tails and nuzzling her legs.
"They recognise me," the mother of three said. "When I go home, my kids at home, all they do is call me 'ma' and go back into their rooms."
Most of the food, like the pork, duck and chicken bones she collects nightly, are donations from friends and other animal lovers.
Madam Tay also gets around $500 in cash donations each month, which she uses to buy rice - going through 300kg of it each month.
Sterilisation fees are sponsored by animal welfare group Save our Street Dogs (SOSD).
It is a dirty, thankless job, and Madam Tay does almost everything by hand, from catching the dogs to mixing the rice with canned dog food.
"Some people call me stupid, but this is something I enjoy and I am very happy to do," she said.
Animal welfare groups say responsible feeders like Madam Tay are on the right track.
"If you only feed them, the strays get stronger and emboldned when the packs get bigger, and can cause security problems," said Mr Ricky Yeo, president of Action for Singapore Dogs.
"But if you have sterilised dogs also occupying the same space and competing for the same resources, the population remains stable and declines over time," he said.
Rat problem at Bukit Batok largely under control: Authorities
Bukit Batok residents will be conducting patrols and engaging dog feeders in the area which has been infested with rats. This comes as the operation to clear out the burrows enters its fifth day.
By Sharon See, Channel NewsAsia, 22 Dec 2014
Bukit Batok residents will be conducting patrols and engaging dog feeders in the area which has been infested with rats. This comes as the operation to clear out the burrows enters its fifth day.
By Sharon See, Channel NewsAsia, 22 Dec 2014
Authorities have said the rat infestation problem at Bukit Batok is largely under control. About 200 rats have been caught so far as the operation to clear out the burrows enters its fifth day.
Bukit Batok's rat infestation problem came to light last week after a video taken by a resident went viral. Five days after the operation to tackle the infestation began, pest controllers believe the problem has now "subsided".
The next phase, which will take place after Christmas, is to monitor and control the situation. This will involve the setting up of infrared motion detectors and the planting of baits. This phase is expected to last another two weeks.
Mr Bernard Chan, the manager of Star Pest Control, said: "To eliminate all of the rats is impossible because there will be roof rats in a forested area. They survive through plants and fruits.
"As long as there is no outside food source, they will not be able to multiply so easily. We can continue to do some frequent monitoring - that means coming by once every two weeks to do a check and see whether there is any migration or growth in the population of rats."
Authorities said they had been aware of the rat problem in the area since late last year and had taken measures to control it. However, they said the issue resurfaced in recent months due to the "continuous indiscriminate feeding of the dogs in the area".
The Housing and Development Board said it did not receive any complaints about the rat problem before the video by 33-year-old simulation system operator Ryan Keith Smith spread online.
Mr David Ong, an MP for Jurong GRC, said: "One of the things we are doing now is that on the community-front, we will be mobilising our community on patrol to do more frequent patrols around this area so that we can engage the dog feeders to not leave food indiscriminately, as well as to work with the National Environment Agency to see how we can raise the level of monitoring and enforcement on food littering."
Pest controllers have said that dog feeders continued to leave food in the area even after the operation began.
Bukit Batok rat infestation larger than initially thought: Pest controllers
By Hetty Musfirah Abdul Khamid, Channel NewsAsia, 20 Dec 2014
By Hetty Musfirah Abdul Khamid, Channel NewsAsia, 20 Dec 2014
Pest busters who are trying to contain the rat infestation beside Bukit Batok MRT said on Saturday (Dec 20) they believe the infestation is affecting a bigger area than expected.
They added that efforts are being hampered by bad weather while new traces of food which can attract the rodents, have been discovered.
Thirty pest controllers have been combing the hill beside Bukit Batok MRT station to tackle the rat infestation. More than 140 rodents have been caught as of day three of the operation and more rats have been found further inside the forested area.
"We can go further deeper into the hill and other parts behind the hill as well and we do notice that there are activities over there," said Bernard Chan, manager of Star Pest Control. “We have created some simple road paths for the workers to access and conduct their work, and currently we are setting up more trappings.”
Authorities say food left behind for stray dogs have contributed to the rat infestation. Despite calls for more responsible behaviour, new traces of food have been found.
"For the last two days, because we are conducting operations here, the dog feeder actually detoured and went behind the hill,” said Mr Chan. “Last night, we discovered that they are throwing the food just behind the hill, which is a restricted area. We have also discovered that the amount of food that the dog feeder is providing the dog is quite a large amount, something about 10 kilogrammes."
The pest busters say the rats caught are roof rats, though they were earlier identified by another pest buster as sewer rats. Roof rats have been known to cause damage to property.
"They are definitely good climbers and also good jumpers and their movement is much faster than sewer rats,” said Mr Chan. “If the population is not under control, if the population is overgrown, I think the rats will start to migrate into the stations and can cause more damage, not only to the properties' cables, but also migrate to the food establishments.
“Based on their behaviour, they will also need to gnaw something to sharpen their teeth and they might cause damage to the facility. We have seen this before, where they have bitten through the phone cables, land lines or even live wire as well in other places actually like in commercial buildings.”
Pest controllers say the operation may take more than a week to complete.
Rat infestation near Bukit Batok MRT
By Nur Afifah bte Ariffin, Channel NewsAsia, 17 Dec 2014
A rat infestation has been spotted in the vicinity of Bukit Batok MRT station. Simulation system operator Ryan Keith, 33, is a longtime Bukit Batok resident, and recorded a video of the rat infestation on Tuesday evening (Dec 16), at the hill just beside the train station.
By Nur Afifah bte Ariffin, Channel NewsAsia, 17 Dec 2014
A rat infestation has been spotted in the vicinity of Bukit Batok MRT station. Simulation system operator Ryan Keith, 33, is a longtime Bukit Batok resident, and recorded a video of the rat infestation on Tuesday evening (Dec 16), at the hill just beside the train station.
"I was there for about 10 minutes and I think I saw more than 50 rats," he told Channel NewsAsia. "This spot is near to many eateries, and rats can breed very quickly and bite through wires, so I am quite concerned."
He said he has approached the National Environment Agency (NEA) about the problem, and they told him that "they will look into it".
Channel NewsAsia understands that this is a plot of state land under the management of the Housing and Development Board (HDB), as an agent of the Singapore Land Authority. Channel NewsAsia has approached the HDB for comment.
When Channel NewsAsia visited the area on Wednesday evening, more than 30 rats were seen scurrying about, although residents say that the number may sometimes be higher.
The MRT station is adjacent to several food establishments, including McDonald's and a hawker centre.
Some McDonald's staff Channel NewsAsia spoke to said they are worried that the rats might eventually enter the restaurant.
A pack of stray dogs were also spotted near the rats' nest. Cleaners working at the MRT station said they have seen people feeding the dogs in the evening, despite a large sign that forbids them from doing so. Residents also said that the remnants of the food given to the dogs are eventually eaten by the rats. The rats appear aggressive, and the dogs seem afraid of them.
Some residents are worried about the diseases that these rats and stray dogs may carry, and are calling for the authorities to take action.
"One day, if they run out of food, they will just go to the eateries around here. They might even run to the station and people might get bitten," said a resident Channel NewsAsia spoke to.
Another concerned resident said: "Before, there were just a lot of stray dogs. Recently you can see a lot of mice running all over the place. I think the authorities should do something about this because there are a lot of food stalls here. It is dangerous."