The National Parks Board (NParks) launched a public consultation, which will be held over two months to accumulate input on a review of the pet sector on Saturday, October 26. The authorities stated that the consultation follows an announcement made by NParks in August this year where it said that it will be working closely with the community to strengthen animal health and welfare standards.
People can register their feedback online through a survey and via attending public exhibitions between October 26 and December 26. Here is the schedule of the upcoming exhibitions.
In a statement, NParks said that they are hoping to raise the standard of breeders and borders to safeguard the health and welfare of animals in Singapore. The authority is also looking at enhancing the traceability of pets, which will be critical in protecting public and animal health.
NParks has conducted discussion sessions with stakeholders in the pet sector on these focus areas and the participants include representatives from pet-related businesses such as breeders, boarders and pet shops, animal welfare groups, the veterinary professionals and academia. They will conduct more sessions until January 2020. As per the news release, the discussion included the issues related to public knowledge about pets, such as things to look up while purchasing a pet, boarding a pet and how to behave around animals.
Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Home Affairs and National Development, Sun Xueling said "We are heartened by the interest and support from various stakeholders in NParks' pet sector review," adding that "I encourage the public to actively share their views with us so that with their help, we can strengthen animal health and welfare while safeguarding public health. We hope to share more details on our plans early next year."
However, NParks said that it will gather input from the public consultation and focus group sessions that they will share in early 2020. Other suggestions included enhancing guidelines to ensure animal health and welfare, certification as well as training for the staff and greater measures to deter errant breeders and boarders. NParks said that the measures could be introduced to encourage more pet owners to license their dogs and common registry to encourage owners to microchip both cats and dogs.
