Man Accuses Jurong Pet Grooming Shop For Dog Abuse on FB But Netizens Side With Shop Instead

2018-10-06 , 11:06 am

You know how it works in Singapore today, don’t you?

You no longer dial 999 the moment you spot any problem. Instead, you take out your smartphone, snap a few pictures and go into Facebook.

And that was what this man did to a pet grooming shop in Jurong.

Man Saw Two Golden Retrievers ‘Stuck’ in One Cage, Accuses Shop of Animal Cruelty

Image: Screengrab from Dog Lovers@SG Facebook Group

On 4 Oct, Tan Yew Meng, an animal lover talked about his experience with Pets Republic. He happened to pass by the shop located at Jurong East Ave 1 when he saw two golden retrievers trapped in a small cage.

He alleged that even after telling the owner of the shop that it’s cruel to the dogs, nothing was done.

At the time of writing, the post has reached 210 shares and garnered over 114 reactions.

Pets Republic Reply With Their Side Of The Story

In response to the post currently being shared across Facebook, Pets Republic has come out to explain their side of the story.

Here’s what they said:

The dogs weren’t crated together for more than 15 minutes.
Normally, it’s not their SOP to crate large dogs.
But because on that day, they had contractors in to service their aircon and the groomers felt that the puppies were too strong, playful and energetic to be kept free
They could seriously hurt themselves or the people working within the store
One of the puppies followed the other into the same crate.
When the shop realised that the aircon servicing is going to take longer, she moved one of the dogs to another crate.
There were no signs of distress on the dogs’ part like panting, whining, howling, barking and scratching to be let out.

They added that SPCA Singapore has contacted them about the complaint. When they realised that the dogs were not in the shop anymore and they weren’t confined for a long period of time, SPCA decided not to pursue the matter.

Going forward, they promise to:

Have a more accurate timeframe for aircon servicing and try to ensure such things happen when there are no dogs around.

Consider getting crates that can be combined to make a larger cage.

They invite people who have further questions to PM them on Facebook for clarification.

Pet Shop Owner’s War Of Words With FB Poster

On Tan Yew Meng’s post which is going viral, a Facebook user with the handle of Lolo Ang claimed to be the owner of Pets Republic and had a war of words with Tan.

She explained the situation in the comments section of his post but he wasn’t having any of her explanations.

Finally, it seems like the owner lost her patience as well and asked Tan to “put his sincerity into action”.

Unfortunately for the shop, Tan isn’t ready to let the matter go.

Surprisingly Mixed Camps of Reactions

Now, if you have just read Tan’s post by itself, you’d probably be working yourself into a righteous fury, joining the witchhunt for Lolo Ang.

But Singaporeans today, unlike a couple of years back, learnt not to take things at face value anymore.

This comment describes it best:

While the shop owner was criticised for being unable to handle the incident professionally, it was Tan that got the brunt of the criticisms.

Some felt he was unreasonable.

Others called him a generator of fake news.

And one felt that Tan should edit his post to reflect the explanation from the owner of Pets Republic.

By not doing so, he’s the unethical and irresponsible individual in this saga.

What do you think?