A backyard puppy breeder squat along the pavement of a very, very busy and bustling street along which cars honked incessantly and where people jostled and jolted against one another in ways that caught Singaporeans offguard.
So I was walking amidst the crowds when I spotted a small group crowding over a litter of puppies, about five of them, placed 'nicely' on the pavement.
Me: How much is one?
Breeder: RMB 130 (S$26)
Me: Are they purebred?
Breeder: Yes, they are Sharpei (this is a headscratcher... Sharpei?!)
Me: Aren't you afraid that they might run away? (as the puppies could very well have)
Breeder: No, they are very gwai (well-behaved).
Me: Do you breed them yourself?
Breeder: Yes, their mum and dad are at home, I have bred a few litters already. In my apartment.
Me: What do you do when you can't sell these puppies?
Breeder: Will try to sell them as much as I can, or I'll give them to friends, or keep them at home as my pets. You want one?
Me: Sorry, I can't, as I stay in Hong Kong. Have to think about the customs, you know.
Breeder: Well, you can put them in your bag and walk through. One customer did that last time.
As an animal activist working to sterilise street dogs to control their populations, I surmise I had every right to express shock, disbelief and disgust at the audacity of the breeder's express treatment of these puppies; by her implicit lack of ethics in 'cajoling' me into the possibility of smuggling a purchased puppy over both the Shenzhen and HK customs; by the fact that she could allow these puppies to sprawl over the pavement exposed to urban hazards, in every sense of this word; by the fact that she has been commercialising animal life.
But I held myself to composure. For after all, I'm in a foreign country and although every encounter of this sort does not bode well with animal welfare motivations, it is through these exchanges that form part of an animal movement education that knows no boundaries or cultures. That which motivates one to remain ever so proactive in safeguarding the future of our animals. That which I learn from.
I do not intend to draw a comparison to the puppy mill situation in Singapore, but whichever location we are at, I believe in staying true to a basic sense of morality. And when it comes to animal welfare, one does not have to go around rambunctiously street-protesting against animal lab tests or animal cruelty in a foreign country. Instead...
Stay firm in refusing to endorse products made out of animals, endangered or not.
Do your part as an informed tourist or visitor; as a consumer with a conscience, with a right to endorse a certain act or product, to show these 'shopkeepers' or businessmen, unabashedly, the right of an animal to be treated in ways that are HUMANE.
Potential buyers holding and checking out the puppies.
Puppies snuggled against each other at the wheels of the cart that, I believe, they were transported in.
The breeder, a young woman, holding a puppy out to me.
A bustling Shenzhen street where people walk and trample on objects without a care, maybe because they are in a hurry, or because they don't even have much of a chance to watch where they are going among the shuffling feet. THIS, is where the puppies were being touted and displayed for sale.
2 comments:
These puppies look very sad to me.
kz, have been pretty non-responsive to your posts cos i fnd myself quite afraid to read them! cos i was not expecting any of the news from over there to be great. try to find some GOOD news on the animal front, can? i am sure there will be!
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