Singapore's laws require pet owners microchip their dogs.

Not doing so can lead to legal ramifications.

But for one dog owner here, microchipping his pet would have avoided other hardships and drama.

Dog got dognapped

A heartbroken pet owner, Jeron Toh, took to Facebook to recount how his dog — a chow chow named Bearbear — got taken from him by another man in Singapore, and subsequently, ended up dead.

The lengthy post can be seen here:

Looking for a fosterer

The whole 900-word epic post is summarised below with Toh making several allegations.

A fosterer was sought for Bearbear, Toh's dog of five years.

Toh's sister received a private message from someone named "Bryan", who claimed to be able to help Toh and his family.

Toh then met Bryan at a pet cafe.

Both of them brought their pet dogs along.

After the meeting, Bryan suggested that Toh let Bearbear stay with him for a day, saying that his dog liked to play with Bearbear.

Toh agreed, and even let Bearbear stay one more day when Bryan asked the next evening.

Dog not returned

However, things quickly turned weird from that point on.

The next day, according to Toh, Bryan's "pattern came out".

He told Toh and his family that Bearbear had vomited blood.

This surprised the family who claimed that Bearbear had never been ill before.

Bryan then claimed to have brought the dog to a vet who apparently said that Toh's family had not taken good care of the Bearbear.

He then got the vet to microchip Bearbear and sent the bill of over a S$100 to Toh.

According to Toh, the microchipping would prove problematic in his family's quest to get their dog back, as under Singapore law, it made Bryan the "rightful owner" of Bearbear.

Bearbear apparently "lives better with him"

A back-and-forth ensued that saw Toh contacting Bryan numerous times in an attempt to get his dog back.

Toh alleged that he was given quite the run-around by Bryan, who supplied various reasons for why Bearbear would not be returned:

• He had given Bearbear to a new fosterer
• They needed to pay Bryan first for the tenure that the dog had stayed at his house
• Bearbear had enjoyed a better life living with Bryan

Bryan also allegedly denied Toh and his family the chance to say a proper goodbye to Bearbear.

The last straw came when Toh attempted to pay Bryan a visit at his house.

The alleged dognapper did not come out of his room, and Toh was instead met with Bryan's mother who talked to him in a "harsh tone".

Police could not help

Toh then made a police report the next day.

However, he was told by the police that they could not intervene in the situation as Bryan had microchipped the chow chow, and suggested that Toh would have to take the case to court in order to get Bearbear back.

And if you were holding out for a happy ending, you're about to be disappointed.

Toh wrote that Bearbear died — supposedly from heatstroke — after a year of living with its fosterers.

And to make matters worse, the fosterers had been open to visits from Toh and his family.

This contradicted what Toh had been told by Bryan, who said that the fosterers did not like visitors.

Importance of microchipping your pets

In his post, Toh wrote that not microchipping his dog was the "worst mistake ever" as it had left his family vulnerable to Bryan's manipulation.

According to Chapter 7 of the Animals and Birds Act, all dogs need to be licenced and microchipped by their owners.

Microchips contain the details of owners and allow for traceability when pets are lost.

Using the dog to lure girls

Toh also attached a few screenshots to his post, which suggested that Bryan may have been using Bearbear as a ruse to lure girls into meeting him.

The screenshots appear to be conversations with people who Bryan either tried to meet or who saw him using the dog as a tool to hit girls up.

Same man in viral road rage incident

In one final twist to the story, Toh said that man who allegedly stole his dog and refused to give it back was also same the person involved in a road rage incident that went viral on July 31.

The incident involved a man and woman shouting at each other and getting into a physical kerfuffle.

The woman eventually got a black object and smashed the side-view mirrors of the man's car.

Both drivers were arrested.

Top image from Jeron Teo's Facebook page