Girl, 10, from Poi Ching School petitions for tougher penalties against animal abuse in S'pore

Kudos kid.

Zhangxin Zheng | January 10, 2019, 06:36 PM

The Platinium Dogs Club saga has sparked widespread outrage in Singapore.

The entire saga has run for three weeks and does not appear to be stopping any time soon.

More than 18 dogs were allegedly mistreated and four deaths recorded.

Worst of all, one of the dogs that died under the care of PDC was Prince, a Shetland Sheepdog, which was thought to be alive.

However, along with two other dogs, he was cremated without the permission and knowledge of its owners.

Public outcry

The level of cruelty in this particular case has prompted a wake up call for the the public, which is now demanding the review of current laws to better protect animals in Singapore.

A member of the public, Roderick Low, started a petition that has collected more than 64,000 signatures online.

Petition started by a 10-year-old girl

A Facebook post by Poi Ching School on Jan. 10 shared that a 10-year-old student, Ng Xin Hui, started a petition in her school too.

Ng was inspired to do so after knowing about the search for Prince and Low's online petition.

Ng's petition is calling for tougher penalties against animal abuse and she even created a poster to collect signatures.

Here's her poster:

Photo from Poi Ching School Facebook

Here's what she wrote, in case you cannot see:

I am Ng Xin Hui and I am 10 years old this year. I heard about the news of a women ill-treating dogs and a rabbit. They were found with skin problems, scars, illness and some even died of starvation! People were angry and sad but they decided to step up and do something about it. One of them even kneeled down pleading the women asking where is her dog. At that point, I felt that I needed to step up to do something. The worse thing is that the women even ignored her. Some even went to her house and confronted her. Now, everybody knows about it and are writing their feelings about the animal abuse.

I hope that the women would be sentence to jail and also hope that there would not be any other animal abusing related news in the future. By doing that, we must be kind to them as they also have a life.

40 students signed the petition

Ng also gave a short talk during the school's morning assembly on Jan. 9.

She eventually collected 40 signatures from her schoolmates.

Photo from Poi Ching School Facebook

Ng wrote her own script that she used to address the rest of the school.

Part of the script was cut off in these photos shared by the school, but it essentially summarised this whole Platinium Dogs Club saga and why Singapore needs stiffer laws to protect the "fur kids" in Singapore.

Photo from Poi Ching School Facebook

Photo from Poi Ching School Facebook

Photo from Poi Ching School Facebook

Photo from Poi Ching School Facebook

Investigations ongoing

Investigations are still ongoing and the woman operator of the Platinium Dogs Club has been arrested.

Minister for law and home affairs, K Shanmugam, also weighed in on the issue and assured Singaporeans that “there will be due process” where those who have “engaged in illegal acts will face the consequences”.

Currently, convicted offenders who fail in their duty of care towards animals while conducting an animal-related business can be fined up to $40,000, jailed for up to two years, or both, under the Animals and Birds Act.

Top photos from Poi Ching School