Family pet missing after AVA raided a pet boarding facility at Galistan Avenue

A dog owner is frantically searching for her pup that went missing from a pet boarding facility after the place was raided by the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA).

Ms Mao shared her tale on Facebook, detailing the horrible experience and the search for her purebred Shetland sheepdog named Prince that has so far remained unsuccessful.

Early in December, Ms Mao has found a place to board her dog as she would be away on holiday with her family. She had visited Platinium Dogs Club, a pet boarding facility on Galistan Avenue a couple of days before to inspect the it with her dog, Prince. According to Ms Mao, she found the place to be ‘clean and fully air-conditioned’. The woman in charge, called Ms Charlotte Liew, showed them the facility and a private room for Prince. Ms Mao paid the total $945 for her dog’s stay.

After giving her dog a full check up at the vet and making sure he was caught up on his vaccines, Ms Mao checked Prince in at the pet hotel before leaving her trip abroad. One day later, Ms Mao had requested for a video of her dog from the hotel owner but didn’t receive one until a full day later. Ms Mao noted that the video was sent at 6am but appeared to be very sunny.

For the next 4 days, she didn’t hear from the hotel at all. Then on Day 7, she received another video, this time at 9.30pm, but again it appeared to be daytime in the video. A whole week went by without further communication.

Then on Day 14, AVA apparently raided the pet hotel. During the raid, Prince and another dog ran out through the gate – at least this is what Ms Charlotte Liew told Ms Mao. According to Ms Liew, AVA had left the gate open during the raid and she had advised Ms Mao to lodge a police report against AVA for their indiscretion.

Since she wasn’t in the country, Ms Mao enlisted the help of some friends to head down to the pet hotel and check things out, hoping to find Prince. Unfortunately, the owner wasn’t around. Ms Mao then contacted AVA who told her that Prince wasn’t there when they raided the place. They hadn’t seen even one Shetland Sheepdog on the premises.

Ms Mao booked the next flight back and immediately lodged a police report at the airport upon arrival in Singapore. She then headed to the police department to confront Ms Liew. Unfortunately, the woman had left and continued to ignore Ms Mao’s calls and texts.

Speaking directly to Ms Liew now, Ms Mao said “Liew, as mentioned in my WhatsApp, we don’t want to do any harm to you, we just want our Prince back and understand how you treated him and what his status was when he has gone missing.”

Ms Mao is doing all she can to find Prince, enlisting the help of netizens on social media to keep an eye out for him. According to Ms Mao, Prince hadn’t been fed at all since he was checked into the pet hotel. Given that he was diagnosed with joint issues due to ageing, this would have weakened him considerably. Naturally, this only adds to Ms Mao’s concern.

While Prince has been said to have been spotted by several people in different areas – Bukit Gombak Station, Coronation Park, Hillview Avenue – he’s still separated from his family. Ms Mao is desperate to get him back as he’s part of her family and she’s even offered to purchase him from anyone that might have bought him illegally.

Ms Mao went to the boarding facility to confront Ms Liew but she refused to face her. Some videos of the encounter were shared on Facebook:

This entire tale is heart-wrenching and if you are someone who has a pet, you’d understand just how Ms Mao is feeling right now. The pet hotel run by Charlotte Liew as obviously a poorly run operation, so much so that the AVA felt the need to raid it. The AVA found that Platinum Dog Club had been mistreating the animals in their care. On top of the 2 missing dogs, another 3 dogs were found cremated while 18 dogs and 1 pet rabbit were found ill treated inside the facility.

Following this harrowing incident, a petition was stated to seek heavier punishment against animal abuse in Singapore. You can sign the petition here.