Proposal for Licensing Requirement for Pet Boarding Business
Ministry of National DevelopmentSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang’s proposal to introduce licensing requirements for pet boarding businesses to supplement existing animal welfare codes. Senior Parliamentary Secretary for National Development Sun Xueling stated that the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority will undertake a holistic review of pet industry regulations, including boarding businesses. She noted that while boarders on farm land are currently licensed, the review will consider how best to regulate other operators while balancing stakeholder needs. Senior Parliamentary Secretary Sun Xueling explained that enforcement action can already be taken under the Animals and Birds Act for animal cruelty or duty of care failures. She emphasized that the review will involve engagement with pet owners and animal welfare groups, though a specific completion timeline has not yet been fixed.
Transcript
3 Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for National Development whether the Ministry will introduce a licensing requirement for pet boarding businesses in addition to the standards and best practices listed in the Code of Animal Welfare (for the Pet Industry).
The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for National Development (Ms Sun Xueling) (for the Minister for National Development): Mr Speaker, all pet business operators, including pet boarders, have a duty of care towards the animals they handle. Beyond the Code of Animal Welfare, AVA can take enforcement action against pet boarding businesses under the Animals and Birds Act for failing in this duty of care, or for animal cruelty.
AVA currently licenses pet shops and pet farms, some of which have commercial pet boarding facilities. AVA intends to undertake a holistic review of the regulatory approach for the pet industry, including how best to regulate pet boarding businesses. As part of this review, AVA will engage its stakeholders, including pet owners, industry players and Animal Welfare Groups, to find the right balance across their various needs and interests.
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang (Nee Soon): I thank the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the reply and I am very thankful that we are going to review this as well. The first clarification is how long this review is going to take. Secondly, while this review is in process, currently, do we have a list of pet boarders in Singapore? I am asking this so that we can do spot checks on these pet boarders. We do have this Code, but again we need to start to check on them, rather than we be reactive; which means, whenever a complaint comes in, abuse has happened and then we check the pet boarders. Can we be proactive now and do spot checks to make sure that abuse does not happen in the first place?
Ms Sun Xueling: The AVA has a list of commercial boarders in pet farms. On the timeline that the Member asked, as I mentioned earlier in my reply, we will be revealing more details in due course, but rest assured that it is going to be a holistic review. We will be engaging various stakeholders when we conduct this review. I had mentioned pet owners, industry players and Animal Welfare Groups because there is a delicate balance that we need to seek between their various needs and their interests.
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: I understand that we have a list of the boarders at the pet farms but as with the recent case of the Platinum Dogs Club, it was not in the pet farm and that perhaps is where the issue lies. Whether we have a list of pet boarders outside the pet farms. And again, I really hope that you can provide at least some time frame of how long this review is going to take because I am pretty sure that would be the questions on the ground.
Ms Sun Xueling: Pet boarders currently are not required to be licensed unless they are on farm land. I think we also need to be mindful that there are many pet boarders out there who are do-gooders, well-meaning pet lovers, who provide pet boarding facilities. But like I mentioned earlier, we will be undertaking a holistic review. And there are various different stakeholders that we have to consult. So, rest assured it is not that I do not want to give you a timeline, but because we want to be comprehensive and holistic about it. Therefore, I do not want to pre-commit. But rest assured, it is going to be a holistic review.