102. SERVICE ON A HIGHER PLANE

I spent a recent Sunday checking out a dog shelter where injured strays, abandoned and abused dogs are housed and cared for by young passionate volunteers.

 

This part of quiet Singapore is in some god forsaken corner where public transport is non-existent. I was amazed at how much land we still have waiting to be built on. There was this large expanse of green grassy land with few vehicular traffic, dotted here and there is this dog shelter, a dog park, a couple of puppy mills (which should be banned) and a couple of fish farms.

 

Set up by an elderly eccentric woman (are there any other kind?) clearly with a soft spot for dogs, this place is pretty much in the news as a lobby center against bad treatment of dogs.

Her young volunteers are a vocal activist group.

 
 

The shelter receives generous donations of dog food...perhaps for that reason, the pooches are over-fed!

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The extremely popular Dog Whisperer will be aghast should he see how obese the dogs are. He visits Singapore sometime this year

He rehabilitates dogs and trains people...

 

There's hope in our young ones - the weekly regulars are in their early 20's. They're students or young working adults

They come in to walk the animals, bathe them and mix their food. After feeding, they wash up, wash the compound, after which, spend some time playing and talking to their favourite pooches.

In a year's time, they will relocate to a plot in another part of the island, allocated to them by the Government. Clearly, they see this as a good thing for young people to be involved in than for them to hang out in some games arcade or worse, be in some nefarious activity.