A dog owner, Alex Michael Chua had his 16-year old Shih Tzu to be cremated at a Pet Cremation Centre. He returned with the urn supposedly contained the ashes and remains of his pet in it.
But when he pry open the urn, which was silicon sealed, he found a bag of powder-like substances in a plastic bag tightened with a cable tie. He felt suspicious as it does not look anything like a carcass should look like after cremation; thus, he went to do a forensic test for the contents.
The results from the forensic experts confirmed that the contents contain 93% of silicate compounds which are found to be consistent with things like sand or cement.
Since the incident, he started posting on his Facebook, to reach out to all pet owners who have engaged the services of Express Pet Cremation/ Pet Cremation Centre.
Many pet owners who have used the same service have contacted him, stating that after checking the contents of their urns, they are also suspicious of the authenticity of the ashes they received.
Many have found similar looking powder-like substances, in a bag cable-tied like Alex Chua’s.
He wrote earlier today on his Facebook: “Dear friends, if you ever had your pet cremated at Express Pet Cremation in Singapore, they have been swindling customers, placing cement and sand in the pet’s urn instead of the actual ashes and this actually happened to someone we know…..”
On Sunday, Mr Chua along with 7 other pet owners went straight to the Express Pet Cremation to seek answers but was not contented with the response given.
A petition has been created by a member of public, Icey Ee who hopes to get support to pressure the local authorities to expedite with the investigations of the owner of the cremation centre” so that justice could prevail and also deter anyone from conducting such unethical practice which is against the moral of a person.”
On 7 August, Alex Chua wrote on his Facebook: “Less than 24hours, 286 petitions have been submitted, and we need more of the people voices out there! Help to share and sign the petition to bring justice!”
Channel News Asia in its 2 August report, wrote that Mr Patrick Lim, the owner of Express Pet Cremation, denied the allegations.
“We are not a cement company, we are a cremation company. We are also not a construction company,” said Mr Lim.
“As far as the police report is concerned, of course, he (Mr Chua) has to substantiate whatever he’s reporting. I’ll leave it to my legal department to handle the situation,” he said.
Some owners have questioned what might have happened to their pet’s body if it was not cremated.
Mr Lim said that all pets are cremated properly. “Whatever carcass we have, we incinerate it,” he said.
He added that those with evidence should report it to the authorities and not “smear” his company’s name.
Police confirmed that reports had been lodged, and investigations are ongoing.
