Owner of short-lived Cuddles Cat Cafe gets 2 weeks' jail, S$3,500 fine

Seven out of 30 cats died.

Belmont Lay | April 19, 2017, 06:19 PM

The 33-year-old former owner of the short-lived Cuddles Cat Cafe at *SCAPE in Orchard has been sentenced to two weeks' jail and fined S$3,500 on Tuesday, April 18.

The owner, Jonathan Tan Wei-De, was convicted for failing to comply with licensing conditions, giving false information to a public servant and attempting to cheat.

According to an Agri-food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) statement, the agency was alerted to allegations of mismanagement of diseased cats at the cafe's premises in October 2014. This led to an investigation.

The cafe was promptly shut in December 2014, some four months after it opened. Seven of the 30 cats bought for the cafe had died before the cafe's mid-September opening.

Tan had provided falsified cat health records in his application for AVA's temporary licence to keep animals for public interaction on the premises.

Tan was later found to have breached AVA licensing conditions by not keeping the cats in good health.

Additionally, he had also failed to ensure that the cats tested negative for toxoplasmosis, before keeping them in the cafe for public interaction.

Toxoplasmosis is a disease that can infect animals and humans.

The case was later referred to the police after it was alleged that Tan had provided falsified cat health records when he applied for an AVA licence for the cafe.

The S$3,500 fine is for failing to comply with the AVA licensing conditions

It is in default of two weeks’ imprisonment.

 

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