Whenever you want to get a pet, you either head to an authorised pet shop to purchase one, or you adopt a pet from an adoption centre for a small fee.
However, there also exist methods online where people choose to sell pets despite not being authorised to.
One such person is 45-year-old Derek Chew Keng Khoon, the administrator of a Facebook group for cat lovers called Maine Coon Singapore.
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Lost His Job
Between 5 January and 29 February 2020, Chew used his Punggol flat as a pet shop to sell two kittens even though he did not have a valid license to sell pets.
When asked why he started doing this, he explained that during that time, he had just lost a job due to a panic attack. Since he was the administrator of a cat lovers page on Facebook, he often received messages from buyers and sellers asking if anyone was looking to sell or buy cats. This came in handy as he was able to capitalise on this and sell a kitten to a prospective buyer for a commission of $200.
The man had contacted him through Gumtree, and after the sale was completed, Chew hinted to the man that he may need to bring the kitten to a vet as it had been neglected.
Chew explained later in court that he was aware that there were rashes on the kitten’s legs, and that he saw the affected areas when he was litter training the kitten. However, he denied knowing that it was actually very serious.
The man contacted Chew again afterward to get another kitten from him, and Chew happily obliged. Since the man came back, Chew also assumed that everything with the first kitten was alright and that its rashes weren’t that bad.
Didn’t Take Kittens to Vet
Despite knowing the kitten’s rash condition, Chew chose not to bring it to the vet for treatment.
As such, other than being charged for using his flat as a pet shop, he was also charged two counts for permitting unnecessary suffering to two kittens by failing to take them to the vet for treatment.
For the first offence, he could be given a fine of $5,000. For the latter offence, he could be sentenced to a jail term of two years and a fine of $40,000.
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Chew will return to court in November for his sentencing.
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Featured Image: Erica Danger / Shutterstock.com
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