Man fined after failing to send Pulau Ubin dog with maggot-infested wound to vet for treatment
Khor Lian Huat, 61, at the State Courts on May 17, 2024, with a photograph of the wounded dog. (Photos: TODAY/Ooi Boon Keong, Court documents)
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SINGAPORE: A man who did not send his dog in Pulau Ubin for treatment despite it having a maggot-infested wound was fined on Friday (May 17).
The wound on the brown mixed-breed dog got so bad that when it was eventually sent to a vet by a dog rescue charity, the vet initially thought its claw would have to be amputated.
Khor Lian Huat, 61, was on Friday handed a fine of S$4,500 (US$3,340) and banned from owning any pets for a year.
He was charged with causing pain and suffering to his pet dog by failing to take it to a vet.
Khor had earlier been offered a composition fine of S$1,000, but he did not pay despite four reminders.
In the course of court proceedings against him, NParks prosecutors highlighted Khor's "belligerence and defiance towards law enforcement officers".
They also pointed out that he was "given multiple opportunities to resolve the matter through the payment of a composition fine but refused to do so".
When he was charged in March, Khor had implored the judge to "understand the lifestyle of people like us who live in the village".
Speaking via a Mandarin interpreter, he protested: "Because my house is in Pulau Ubin. I stay in Pulau Ubin. They use the laws for pet dogs to charge me when I'm in kampung."
He had also asked the court for the composition fine of S$1,000 to be reduced to S$500.
Instead, the prosecutors were by then seeking S$5,000.
WHAT HAPPENED
On Aug 26, 2021, the Animal and Veterinary Services (AVS) received feedback from Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD) - a Singapore-based organisation - about an injured dog it had rescued from Pulau Ubin.
Investigations revealed that between July and August that year, Khor observed that his dog had sustained a wound on the dewclaw of its front right paw. A dewclaw is the extra toe that is found on the inside of a dog's front leg.
He cleaned the wound with antiseptic solution, but because he was not ordinarily a resident on Pulau Ubin, he instructed another person, who was on the island on most days, to monitor the wound.
When Khor returned sometime in August 2021, he saw that the wound had enlarged and had maggots in it.
Instead of taking the dog to the vet for treatment, Khor continued to clean the wound with antiseptic solution. He also picked out the maggots himself.
Khor then left for mainland Singapore without getting the necessary help for his dog.
But when the wound started to deteriorate, the person whom Khor had asked to monitor the wound for him started asking for help. Eventually, a representative of SOSD sent the dog to the Animal World Veterinary Centre on Aug 14, 2021.
By then, the wound was necrotising, meaning the cells were dying. It also had putid, brown discharge dripping from it and had open cavities with a large number of maggots.
While the initial diagnosis was amputation, the dog made a full recovery after being warded for 10 days.
It is currently under the care of SOSD.
For unreasonably omitting to do an act which caused unnecessary pain and suffering to his dog, Khor could have been jailed for up to 18 months, fined up to S$15,000, or both.
The offence also carries a disqualification from owning pets for a period of time.
