Open letter of Appeal to Mr K. Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Law and Nparks.

In light of the recent abuse case by Matthew Ng of K9 Connection, the current disqualification period is extremely disproportionate for sadistic offenders like Matthew Ng, or as a matter of fact, anyone that abused or show acts of cruelty to innocent animals in Singapore.

We need to send a strong signal to animal abusers, whether they are individuals or individuals in animal-related businesses, that our law has absolutely no room for such acts of cruelty to animals!

Under Section 42 of the Animals and Birds Act (Cap. 7, 2002 Rev. Ed.), offences of neglect and abuse by individuals in the course of conducting animal-related businesses are punishable by a fine of up to $40,000 and/or a jail term of up to 2 years for first-time offenders. Offenders may also be disqualified from being involved in animal-related businesses for up to 12 months only.

As members of the Singaporean public, we sincerely appeal to the Mr K. Shanmugam and Nparks, to send a STRONG AND EFFECTIVE message to offenders such as Matthew Ng that animal abuse is a serious crime that will not be tolerated in our society. As of 25th Aug 2022, he has only been disqualified as an AVS-accredited trainer and is still allowed to conduct dog training.

Please mete out a stronger sentence and be a voice for the voiceless by:

1. Increasing the jail term significantly
2. Disqualify him for life from conducting live animal-related businesses

For more background information on the abuse case by K9 Connection:

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/avs-investigates-dog-abuse-video-training-centre-k9-connection-2812291​

https://coconuts.co/singapore/news/singapore-pup-terrorized-and-cornered-in-kennel-video-k9-connection/