‘Animals are not products’: Hamster Society calls out Holland-Bukit Timah candidate Edward Chia for breeding hamsters at age 10

Edward Chia was entrepreneurial for breeding & selling hamsters, says bio on PAP website

As voters ponder many weighty issues during the 2025 General Election (GE2025), the Hamster Society Singapore has highlighted the issue of animal welfare.

It called out Mr Edward Chia, a People’s Action Party (PAP) candidate for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, for breeding and selling hamsters at the age of 10.

Edward Chia reportedly bred & sold hamsters for S$3 each

In a Facebook post on Friday (25 April), the animal welfare group shared a write-up about Mr Chia that was also posted on the PAP website.

It said that his “entrepreneurial journey” started at the young age of just 10 years old.

He reportedly bred hamsters and sold them to pet shops for S$3 each, according to the bio.

This sparked “his lifelong passion for creating value”, it added.

Unlicensed breeding & selling of pets is illegal in Singapore

But the Hamster Society said what Mr Chia did was “not something to celebrate”.

Pointing out that the unlicensed breeding and selling of pets is illegal in Singapore, the society also described Mr Chia’s actions as “irresponsible”, adding:

Animals are not products. Whether it’s hamsters, dogs, cats, rabbits, lives should never be reduced to $dollar$ signs.

Many dumped hamsters come from irresponsible breeders: Hamster Society

The Hamster Society rescues “countless” hamsters that have been dumped in boxes and bins, it said.

It noted that many of these dumped animals came from irresponsible breeders and were abandoned when they became inconvenient.

In a subsequent post, it said some of the cases from hoarding and backyard breeding included:

• Hamsters packed in filthy plastic boxes, covered in their waste
• Mothers forced to breed non-stop, their babies dead beside them
• Cancerous tumours the size of their heads, untreated and ignored
• Missing limbs, rotten skin and eyeballs falling out or sealed shut with pus
• Rescues pulled from rubbish bins, shoe boxes, food containers, and once, a Hai Di Lao paper bag

“This is what happens when animals are treated like products,” it added.

Compassion & responsibility come before entrepreneurship: Hamster Soceity

The Hamster Society said that while entrepreneurship is important, “compassion and responsibility must come first, especially when lives are involved”.

This is an issue we need to talk about, it stated, adding:

With polling day just around the corner, let’s be more thoughtful about the people we vote for. Should we be reinforcing outdated mindsets? Or should we be shaping a future that values compassion, ethics, and accountability?

Edward Chia entered politics in 2020

Mr Chia, 41, who is the co-founder of Timbre Group, entered politics in 2020 when he was part of the victorious team contesting Holland-Bukit Timah GRC at GE2020.

He has been MP for the Zhenghua ward of the GRC for the last five years.

In GE2025, he is running in Holland-Bukit Timah again with an unchanged line-up that also includes Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and National Development Sim Ann and Deputy Speaker Christopher de Souza.

They will take on a team from Red Dot United comprising:

• Mr Fazli Talip
• Mr Nizar Subair
• Ms Emily Woo
• Mr Sharad Kumar

Also read: 20 Hamsters Left Abandoned At Bedok Town Park, Residents Urged To Look Out For More

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Featured image adapted from Hamster Society Singapore on Facebook and Facebook. Photo on right for illustration purposes only.