Recently, I have received 2 emails

on dogs in chains. One just today and the other 2 weeks back.

I'd replied to the first person, E, who wrote on 30 March about a dog who lives in her area who's always chained up. However, I have not received any reply. If for any reason my email have not reached you E, please email me again at projectjkteam@yahoo.com.sg.

Today, another person reported on a beagle who is living in chains. Everytime she sees him, he is in chains. We will be checking on him.

The sad thing about dogs in chains is that, legally, it is not a crime if the household is seen to adhere to certain requirements like food, water, shelter, certain length of leash. When these factors are present, the family is "legally allowed" to continue keeping the dog in chains, 24 hours a day, every day, for the rest of his life.

To the dog, his life might as well have ended, the very minute the officer pronounced his living conditions as "legal".

To keep a social animal in chains - the silent anguish and desperate call for freedom can never be understood until you look into the eyes - there are always just 2 expressions: one of innocent hope (please come and free me) and the other of a crushed life, devoid of feelings no more (please let me die). For there in chains or in a cage, day after day, they are no longer living. They have been betrayed and killed by the very people who have taken them in. That sadness is indescribable.

* YOU can bring these animals some HOPE. When you see an animal in chains or perpetually caged up, please go forward and speak with the family. Find out if they need any help with their pet and why he/she is kept in such a condition. Share with them, educate them. Some are genuinely ignorant. But there are also some who are purely irresponsible.

If nothing improves after awhile, contact the SPCA education officers to visit the home and advise them on responsible pet ownership.

Do not just walk away. You will carry with you the lingering images of a living being who needs you to come forward and speak up for him. Life is never meant to be lived in chains. Do not let that animal down. YOU can grant him that decent measure of FREEDOM which every single living being is born for.