In a statement on their Facebook page, The Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) announced that a preliminary investigation following their raid of the Platinum Dogs Club has revealed that the pure-bred Shetland sheepdog which was reported missing had died while it was boarded there. The dog was apparently then cremated by a pet cremation service provider.
AVA said in their statement that investigations into the boarding facility is still ongoing and that they will take action against any offenders to safeguard animal welfare.
Prince’s owner, Ms Mao has initially called on the public to help locate her missing dog in a Facebook post that went viral. The post detailed her entire journey with that boarding facility from checking it out to barely receiving updates from them, and then finding out that it was raided by the AVA.
Initially, the owner of the facility Charlotte Liew told Ms Mao that Prince had run out during the raid as AVA had left the gate open. Subsequently, Ms Mao sought help from the public to find her missing dog. Members of the public reach out with possible sightings at Bukit Gombak and Coronation Park. But Prince was nowhere to be found. Another sheepdog was seen roaming around but that turned out to be a female – Prince is a male dog. It’s possible that the other sightings of Prince were actually of this female sheepdog instead.
Now 24 days after Prince first stepped into the pet boarding facility on Galistan Avenue (which is now shutdown by AVA), Ms Mao was informed by AVA that her dog died while in boarding and has been cremated.
In an update on her Facebook post about Prince, Ms Mao expressed her intense and ‘unbearable grief’ while thanking members of the public for their support and help.
Investigations into Platinum Dogs Club
AVA arrested the operator of Platinum Dogs Club on Sunday (6 Jan) and is assisting the police with the investigations into animal welfare-related offences. According to reports by TODAY Online, the residential home where the pet boarding facility was located on Galistan Avenue now has a notice from the AVA addressed to the tenant. The notice apparently ‘expressly instructed’ that the tenant was ‘not allowed to have any animals on the premises’ and should contact ‘affected parties’ and the relevant authorities soon.
As you can imagine, there is huge public outcry to strong actions to be taken against the operator of the facility, saying that the loss of life of an animal is just as significant as that of humans:
One netizen also pointed out the need for tightening regulations around pet boarding facilities to prevent a history from repeating itself:
