Neglect & deaths at S’pore no-kill animal shelter Animal Lovers League, AVS not renewing tenancy

Volunteers of Animal Lovers League (ALL), Singapore's largest no-kill shelter, have accused the shelter's owners of gross mismanagement.

For years, the animal shelter has faced a slew of issues, including neglect of the roughly 200 animals in its care.

The owners have repeatedly failed to get the animals adopted, and failed to seek timely veterinary treatment for sick animals, the volunteers allege.

This has resulted in more deaths than adoptions at the shelter.

In a Dec. 8 statement, the Animal and Veterinary Service (AVS) confirmed that it is aware of the concerns, revealing that it has engaged ALL multiple times regarding the welfare allegations, but to no avail.

Due to the shelter's poor management of its animals, AVS made the decision not to renew ALL's tenancy at its current space at The Animal Lodge.

The tenancy expired on Aug. 5. ALL will hence be required to return its units to AVS as soon as possible.

Animal neglect

Mothership spoke to four long-term volunteers at the shelter: Huang, Wen, Susan, and Tim (not their real names).

Neglect has been a common thread of concern between both the cat and dog adoption programmes, they said.

Photos viewed by Mothership showed a number of sick, malnourished animals.

Some were housed in visibly filthy enclosures.

Tim said the animals don't get access to clean food, water, and acceptable living conditions.

There are too many animals for the two full-time cleaners to handle, he added, and there are frequent rat infestations.

The poor conditions make it particularly dangerous for the old and high-needs animals:

"It's almost like an instant. The moment an animal is diagnosed with a disease, within a month, the animal is dead."

Late medical treatment

According to Huang, who has been running the volunteer programme for seven years, the shelter's owners — Cathy and Mohan — have been out of the loop for some years.

They have "no idea what is happening", she says.

Whenever an animal needs medical attention, the volunteers notify Cathy and Mohan.

But more often than not, their pleas for treatment go unanswered.

The volunteers believe that the owners avoid bringing the animals to the vet until the situation is dire because of ongoing financial problems.

ALL has racked up debt at numerous private vets in Singapore, which means they're often turned away at the door.

But this means the condition of animals can deteriorate and the animals die while awaiting medical treatment that comes too late or not at all.

Wen, a volunteer who's been with ALL since 2018, recalled how she brought a dog, Brownie, to the vet herself due to an untreated infected eye.

She was told that he would need an eye removal surgery.

"We just went ahead and got that done, because the shelter told me that they don't have money to pay for this surgery," she said.

Most of the volunteers have at some point paid for vet bills out of their own pockets as a result.

Low adoption rates

Despite the shelter's inability to care for the animals, Cathy and Mohan have persistently failed — and often refused — to get the animals adopted.

In 2025, only two dogs have been adopted so far. Seven have died.

This has been a longstanding pattern of behaviour which Huang attributes to "hoarding" tendencies.

"They make it so f*cking hard to adopt... so you'll just give up," she said.

She alleged that Cathy and Mohan also frequently refuse to send high-needs animals to boarders or fosterers.

On one occasion, Huang tried to send a dog that required palliative care to a boarder.

The shelter has a sponsor that pays for animal boarding.

But "when we took the dog, they threatened to call the police on us", she claimed.

On another occasion, Wen offered to take over the care of a dog, Jing Jing, who was suffering from heart murmur.

The shelter was unable to obtain timely veterinary treatment for Jing Jing.

But Mohan refused to let Wen take in the dog.

"I'm someone who has been with the shelter since Covid. When only five names were allowed to enter the shelter [during lockdown], I was one of them.

And still I was rejected. When I asked why, no reasons were given. There's never any reasons given."

Jing Jing later passed away.

Susan, who's been at the shelter for 16 years, said that "plenty of volunteers" have argued with them regarding their apparently arbitrary adoption criteria.

"Over the years, we ask them to rehome the animals... ask sick animals to be fostered out... but they always find excuses to reject our good intentions.

In the first place, you have to actively rehome the animals. It's not a good thing to have a large shelter."

Financial problems

ALL is a registered charity and regularly raises funds from the public.

But volunteers still often end up paying for the animals' needs using their own money.

They pay for vet fees, the animals' food, and even the staff wages, Huang said.

Tim, who works at the cattery, added that the volunteers spend S$600 a month on supplies. "The whole programme is funded by us," he said.

While the volunteers collectively believe that Cathy and Mohan are no longer capable of managing the shelter, they are unable to do anything about it.

Susan explained that there are no AGMs, and as such there is no way to vote to remove the owners from the shelter.

Desperate for a solution, the volunteers decided to pursue action in 2024.

In a petition letter viewed by Mothership, addressed to the authorities, 25 volunteers — including the four that we spoke to — alleged welfare concerns, financial mismanagement, and operational and leadership deficiencies.

"We are writing with a deep sense of urgency and responsibility to seek your immediate intervention in addressing the dire situation at ALL," the letter said.

They pointed out that the shelter owes AVS around S$500,000 in unpaid rent, as well as S$300,000 in outstanding vet bills.

Mothership has reached out to Cathy and Mohan, but did not receive any reply.

No progress observed at ALL: AVS

In a statement on Dec. 8, AVS said it has been receiving reports from volunteers regarding alleged mismanagement and welfare concerns at ALL since December 2024.

Through regular inspections, AVS found management of ALL's 10 units, which house over 200 animals, to be "poor", and the welfare of animals to be "progressively deteriorating over time".

During AVS's inspections, multiple sick animals were found that did not receive prompt and adequate veterinary attention.

"Many animals also showed signs of fear, anxiety, and stress, as well as insufficient provision of daily essential resources such as feeding and watering points and litter boxes," AVS said.

AVS highlighted that it took a "measured approach" with ALL, noting its intent to continue caring for the animals, and that a "sudden eviction could further compromise the well-being of the animals under ALL’s care".

However, although AVS engaged the shelter on multiple occasions in person and told it to rectify the issues, "little to no progress was observed".

Advisories were sent to ALL thrice, on May 22, Jul. 3 and Jul. 11.

This was followed by a directive under the Animals and Birds Act on Jul. 24, and further site inspections.

AVS will not renew ALL's tenancies

On Aug. 20, ALL surrendered 15 animals that required immediate veterinary care to AVS.

After treatment, some of these animals have recovered and stabilised and been taken in by caregivers.

In the meantime, AVS is continuing to monitor the other animals' welfare through regular inspections and engagement with ALL.

AVS has since sent more advisories and a second directive to ALL.

As of Dec. 3, AVS has issued seven advisories and two directives to ALL.

AVS said that despite extending various forms of support to ALL, such as giving it more time to pay the rental arrears via an instalment plan, these "gaps were not resolved and worsened in the past year, putting the welfare of the animals at risk".

The agency noted in the media briefing on Dec. 8 that ALL currently owes them 53 months' of rental arrears.

In the light of the health and welfare concerns at ALL and its poor management of the animals, AVS has since made the decision not to renew the tenancies of ALL’s units at The Animal Lodge when they expired on Aug. 5.

ALL is required to return the units to AVS as soon as possible.

"AVS is now working closely with the various animal welfare groups and individuals to develop a long-term plan for the care and rehoming of ALL’s animals to ensure their health and welfare.

Various animal welfare groups have expressed interest in taking on the animals to care for them, and discussions are still ongoing."

Top photo from AVS