Luxury Pet Hotel Owner Charged As She Also Sold Cats to Customers

Cats are probably one of the cutest animals in the world.

Image: Giphy

That’s why they’re a highly popular domestic pet, right next to doggos.

Its high demand and adoration will thus possibly lead to certain crimes to profit off our love for the kittens.

No, nothing horrible like eating a cat live in public, thankfully.

But still a crime nevertheless.

What’s that? You want more cat pics? I gotcha covered.

Pet Hotel Owner Charged For Selling Cats

Any pet lover would have probably visited a pet hotel or cafe at least once before.

Image: catcafe.com.sg

A the end of the day when you leave, you’re so tempted to ask the owners if you could bring one of them home.

You’d gladly pay for it.

But of course, they’re not allowed to, even if they wanted to.

Estelle Tayler, the owner of the luxury pet hotel Wagington, clearly didn’t get the memo.

She was accused of selling 2 British shorthair cats and 1 Ragdoll cat between 1 October and 13 November last year.

Image: Giphy

Why can’t they do that? A pet hotel and a pet shop aren’t much different. Because they don’t have a pet shop license.

Yep, you need one of those if you want to sell pets. You can’t just kidnap the two cats at your HDB void deck, force them to breed, then sell their kittens for profit.

Image: Wigglingfish

To obtain a license, there is a huge list of requirements to fulfil in order to ensure a safe, comfortable, and pleasant environment for our kitties and doggos to await their potential owners.

If you’re interested, you could read up more on the license here and the application process here.

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A license for a pet hotel is very different from a pet shop and thus is considered illegal and unethical to conduct pet sales.

Except this pet hotel owner may have violated more than just that.

She also exhibited pets illegally.

Image: PInterest

Yes, exhibiting pets require a whole other license as well. You could read up on all animal-related businesses here.

Estelle allegedly charged people $15 an hour to play with cats she exhibited in one of the suites at the hotel.

Jialat liao sia.

Image: Giphy

On Wednesday (31 July), she decided to dispute the matter by claiming trial.

When she tried to address the charges on the spot, she was shot down by the District Judge Adam Nakhoda, who said: “You are disputing this. You have the opportunity to put your version across at the trial. There’s nothing I can do listening to you if you wish you can tell the pre-trial conference judge.”

Fierce sia.

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The case was then adjourned for a pre-trial conference in September. If found guilty, she could be fined up to SGD $5000 per charge.

I hope she saved up for a rainy day because it looks like it might be raining cats and dogs for her finances soon.

Image: Tenor