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  Channel NewsAsia 26 Jan 06
Animal lovers alarmed as dogs sales rise for Lunar New Year
By Pearl Forss, Channel NewsAsia

SINGAPORE : Pet shops have seen a spike in the sale of dogs the last few weeks as many prepare to celebrate the Lunar Year of the Dog.

But this is alarming news for some animal lovers. To some, purchasing a dog may seem an auspicious way to welcome the Lunar New Year of the Dog. In fact, 6 out of 10 pet shops contacted by Channel NewsAsia say there has been a spike in sales.

Said Sam Tan, owner of Dog Com Pet Shop, "For my shop it'll be an increase of 20 percent from last month because this is the Year of the Dog; you can see a lot of advertisements involving dogs."

Eric Lim, director of Ericsson Pet Farm, said, "We have experienced a two-fold increase in browsers and visitors, our sales definitely has gone up by 20, 30 percent over the last two weekends. A lot of them are impulse buyers. We discourage impulse buyers; we always tell them dogs are for life. If we feel that they are impulse buyers, we tell them go and read about it, consider before buying."

And there is cause for concern. After the previous Year of the Dog in 1994, the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or SPCA, reported that 4,312 dogs were abandoned, 150 more than in 1993.

The current rise in dog sales is sounding the alarm bells. Dogs make up over one quarter of the over 800 animals that SPCA gets every month; every week, more than 40 dogs are put to sleep.

Said Deirdre Moss, executive officer of the SPCA, "Lately the adoption figures have gone down. It has actually gone down from 30 to 35 dogs a month to 20 dogs a month. The balance of the dogs are put to sleep. It's very disturbing if the (sales) figures are going up, as already up to 30 percent of the dogs we are receiving every month, which is 200, are pedigree dogs."

Ms Moss urged potential dog buyers, "Please don't go out and buy dogs purely because it's the Year of the Dog. It's not unlike having a child -- they do fall sick, you have to pay for medical bills. The more dogs we take in, the more we have to put to sleep because there simply aren't enough homes."

And there seems to be a trend: the SPCA says 625 rabbits were abandoned after the Year of the Rabbit in 1999, a 116 percent increase over the previous year.

For some animals in the Chinese Zodiac the Lunar New Year may not bring much joy after all. - CNA /ct
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