(SG) Strays in Singpaore

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Straits Times - Oct 2001.1

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/singapore/story/0,1870,75159,00.html

 

Would you spend $1,600 on a stray? Some people did, saving stray dogs from

the street to be given medical

treatment and sent to good homes

 

By Chong Chee Kin

 

They prowl the streets for scraps. Sometimes, they get lucky.

 

A few are half-blind. Some are mangy and infested with ticks and fleas.

Others hobble along on maimed legs.

 

Lacking the looks and charms of their pampered, pedigreed cousins, these

strays may lack food and shelter.

 

But not love.

 

Quietly, for the past 10 months, a small group of people who call themselves

Action For Singapore Dogs has been taking the strays off the streets and

arranging for them to be adopted.

 

They pay for the dogs to be treated by vets and vaccinated.

 

They even rent kennels at a pet farm in Pasir Ris where the dogs can be

taken care of while they wait for new homes.

 

Mr Ricky Yeo, 33, a computer programmer, started it off with three friends

last December. They've helped nearly 50 strays since then, he said, and

found permanent homes for 20.

 

But about 30 more are still waiting to be adopted.

 

The rest are either fostered out to volunteers, or housed at the pet farm.

 

All this costs them nearly $2,000 a month.

 

Some of the money comes from 'generous souls' like lawyer Blossom Hing, who

found one of the most heart-wrenching cases about a month ago.

 

She was at East Coast Park when she saw a crowd by the roadside surrounding

a stray dog, a hit- and-run victim whose legs had been crushed.

 

'He had dragged itself to the side of the road and was howling in pain,'

said Madam Hing, 28, who took the dog to a vet.

 

The group helped to pay for the nearly $1,600 in fees it cost to get it

well.

 

'He's recovering well. He's a real survivor,' Madam Hing said of the dog she

has named Phoenix.

 

Phoenix is one of many strays up for adoption.

 

Their pictures are posted on the Action For Singapore Dogs website at

www.asdsingapore.com

 

Mr Yeo said that would-be adoptive 'parents' are screened to make sure the

animal's temperament suits its prospective owner's lifestyle.

 

On the website, pictures of the lucky ones which have found permanent homes

bear the tag 'Gone To A Good Home'.

 

Those who are interested in adopting the strays, or who have found strays

which need the group's help, can contact it through the website.

 

One of the lucky dogs to be adopted is Fluke, which has found a new lease of

life with its owner, Madam Atchima Ruthirawat, 47, an auditor.

 

What struck her most about Fluke was that it was so obedient.

 

'I just love him,' she said.

 

'His foster family had done a great job on him, and he was looked after very

well. Fluke was brought up very well.'