Two years ago, dog trainer Sabrina Sim Xin Huey forgot to remove two French bulldogs under her care from her car boot.
Both dogs died of heatstroke after being left there for nearly two hours.
In June, Sim received a fine of S$8,000. She was also disqualified from carrying out any animal-related business for six months.
She proceeded to appeal against the ban, which Justice Vincent Hoong recently dismissed.
Sim also requested for the judge to backdate the disqualification order, but the judge denied this as well.
Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reports that Sim, 30, received a fine of S$8,000 and a six-month disqualification order in June for causing the bulldogs’ deaths.
The incident occurred on 25 Aug 2020 when she was driving the dogs, Chocoby and Hunniby, home after a training session.
Image courtesy of Ms Tay Jun Yi
She placed them in her car boot but forgot to take them out as a social media post had distracted her.
Both dogs remained inside the vehicle for 1.5 hours and passed away from heat stress.
Sim filed an appeal against the six-month disqualification order and it was stayed pending the appeal.
However, Justice Hoong dismissed the appeal in a judgement on Tuesday (27 Sep).
In her appeal, Sim argued that a court should only disqualify a trainer in cases where the abuse was intentional.
Justice Hoong responded by pointing out that the Animals and Birds Act does not support this claim.
He said,
The court is empowered to impose a disqualification order if a person is convicted of an offence under [various sections] of the Animals and Birds Act, which offences are not limited to intentional acts.
For instance, he explained, not making a reasonable effort to search for a missing animal constitutes an offence.
According to The Straits Times (ST), the judge also rejected the idea that the disqualification was excessive since Sim’s negligence had led to the dogs’ deaths.
Justice Hoong explained that the disqualification order should serve as a “stern warning” to others about the consequences of “such negligent conduct”.
In addition, the length of the order “gave adequate weight to the fact that the appellant’s negligence led to the death of two dogs”.
Sim had also requested for Justice Hoong to backdate the disqualification order so that she could treat the period of the ban as “spent”. However, the judge rejected this as well.
“This would render the disqualification order wholly nugatory and undermine the objectives of a disqualification order,” he said.
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Featured image courtesy of Ms Tay Jun Yi.
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