Sweetie and pet abandonment

This is Sweetie, presumably 5 yrs old or older. She was abandoned with Shyshy, another much warier dog at a farm. Later, they moved to another farm just a street down and hid themselves away from the street dogs in a storehouse, seeking food from the caretaker. I say 'abandoned' because these 2 mongrels appeared out of nowhere and because they looked/behaved like domesticated dogs.

Sweetie, for one, is lovingly friendly to almost anyone--even to myself, on first occasion; plus, she can do 'paw' and is most willing to offer her paw without one even asking for it. In the first 3 photos above, you may tell it was difficult to take her pictures as she was merrily moving about, her tail swinging in every direction as her caretaker showed me where she was 'hiding'. A few months ago, Shyshy unfortunately went missing and since the afternoon the caretaker discovered her absence, we've never found Shyshy.

Because Sweetie has grown chummy with a patchy-black male dog which we've failed to capture for castration a few times, we sent her for sterilisation upon suspicion that her tummy could be getting bigger. At the vet's, we scanned her for presence of microchip but found none.

I often wonder what part of the Animals & Birds Act actually and practically applies to the act of abandonment. Publicity rhetoric discourages pet abandonment and states that abandonment is a crime. But I've encountered a few major cases in which I was informed my attempts were futile because there were lack of evidences to prove someone abandoned their pets. Several dimensions to this:

• To prove that the pet belongs to alleged owner
• To prove the very act of abandonment
• To prove the owner has intentions to abandon pet

But what happens if a dog is not AVA licensed but is obviously known to belong to the owner and has resided on owner's property for a long time? So how is anyone supposed to be there when the owner releases his dogs from his car? What happens if dog is abandoned by a family friend or relative, not the owner himself, and the former acts on instruction from owner? Is a witness supposed to take a video of it? Even with a photo taking, how credible are images, as the owner can always deny that he was taking the dog out for walk and the images are insufficient to prove this?

Is abandonment an unspoken reality that all of us know about?

There are certainly gaps in how the Act applies to real-life cases and I hope for many of us involved, these questions reinforce the notion that the Act needs to be improved.

For Sweetie's case, we've spent quite a bit on her sterilisation, vaccination, deworming and micro-chipping. If you would like to help chip in, do email us at projectjkteam@yahoo.com.sg. We sincerely appreciate all amount of donation.

Sweetie is a lovely girl.