Written Answer by Ministry of National Development on number of people who have been charged for animal cruelty offences under the Animals and Birds Act

May 10, 2021

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong: To ask the Minister for National Development (a) in each of the last five years, what is the number of people who have been charged for animal cruelty offences under the Animals and Birds Act; (b) of these, what is the number of people who have been (i) convicted and (ii) sentenced to imprisonment; and (c) what are the top three categories of animals in respect of which the persons have been charged. 

Answer:

The number of individuals who have been charged for animal cruelty offences under the Animals and Birds Act since 2016 is provided in Table 1.

Table 1: Number of individuals charged for animal cruelty offences under the Animals and Birds Act (2016 – 2020) 

Of these cases, 22 individuals have been convicted as of April 2021, and 11 of them have been sentenced to imprisonment. The types of animals involved in these cases are primarily cats and dogs.