Singapore jails woman for keeping puppies for sale without license

A woman who sold 21 smuggled puppies from her flat is the first person jailed in Singapore for keeping animals for sale at unlicensed premises, the National Parks Board said on Sept. 15.

Ng Siew Teng, 28, was sentenced on Aug. 5 to 19 weeks and three days in jail and fined S$5,000 (US$3,900) after pleading guilty to five charges under the Animals and Birds Act, The Straits Times reported.

Her husband, Callurn Lim Yuan Jin, 34, drew the same sentence for the animal charges on Sept. 11.

Immigration and Checkpoints Authority officers stopped a Singapore-registered car at Woodlands Checkpoint during a random inspection on Dec. 27, 2023 and found five two-month-old Pomeranian puppies hidden in the boot, NParks said. Two were inside a pet carrier placed within a plastic storage container holding the other three.

Pomeranian puppies seized after being smuggled into Singapore from Malaysia. Photo from court documents

The couple's friend Bryan Peh Jia Hao, then 22, was driving. He was convicted of three charges under the same Act on Jan. 16 and jailed for 16 weeks, AsiaOne reported.

Lim had approached him in October 2023 and offered S$250 to S$300 a puppy.

The animals had been carried in cramped, poorly ventilated conditions that subjected them to unnecessary suffering, NParks said, and all five tested positive for canine parvovirus, a highly contagious disease that can kill dogs.

Ng and Lim kept the imported puppies at home, advertised them on Instagram and showed them to buyers at their block's void deck, the agency said.

They sold 21 puppies between October and December 2023 for about S$21,000 ($16,500) in profit.