Ms Farisha said: “The only source of water was from a tap dripping onto the toilet floor of the unit; the toilet floor was noted to be pooling with dirty brown water, likely from faecal contamination.”
Drinking from a contaminated water source facilitates the transmission of parasites and predisposes the cats to diseases.
During the inspection, there was no food seen to be available for the cats. Investigations revealed that Danial fed the cats once a week from a big bag of dry kibble, which would have been “highly stressful” for the cats who would need to fight and compete for food at a single feeding point.
Six cats were found to have superficial wounds and healed scars during examination, which were “highly likely” to have been sustained in fights with other cats, the prosecution said.
The two deceased cats were found to be “exceedingly thin” and emaciated, and had liver lesions, indicating that they have been in “negative energy balance” for a while and had a recent decrease in food intake, the prosecution added.
Of the other cats, nine were noted to have been infested with fleas, one was found to have adult lice on its coat, and 19 cats were observed to have alopecia, three of which tested positive for ringworm. Alopecia for felines is a condition where there is hair loss on the cat’s body that occurs due to an underlying disease.
The cats were subject to “severely poor living conditions” in a “filthy and unsanitary” environment, with faecal material, decomposing carcasses and skeletal remains of cats noted throughout the flat.
With the windows in the flat being closed and the poor ventilation, the heavy soiling of the environment would have led to build-up of high concentrations of ammonia, posing health hazards both to cats and humans in the vicinity.
CASE BACKGROUND
In July 2021, Danial applied for and got a new HDB flat in Yishun and was given six months to vacate his old one.
The family moved to the Yishun flat after receiving the keys in August that year, and Danial admitted to not making arrangements to rehome the cats, leaving them in the vacant apartment.
“He also did not visit the said flat regularly nor to provide the cats with food and water on a daily basis due to his long working hours and poor management of finances, (being) in heavy debt,” Ms Farisha the prosecutor said.
She added that Danial had claimed to visit the cats to feed them once a week and had last visited the flat in early November 2021, a few days before being contacted by NParks.
He locked the gate and door and left the flat less than five minutes after pouring dried cat food on the floor, and further admitted to not checking on the cats or cleaning up the flat, being aware that the flat was unhygienic and filled with feline faecal matter.
For each charge of causing unnecessary pain or suffering to a pet, he could have been jailed for up to 18 months or faced a fine of up to S$15,000, or both.
This article was originally published in TODAY.
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