Catfight over dog rescue

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http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Singapore/Story/A1Story20120904-369512.html

A Eurasian man in his 40s, known as Jeffrey had allegedly told volunteers from Oasis 2nd Chance, a six-year-old shelter in Pasir Ris which is home to over 100 dogs, that he had broken the legs of one of the stray dogs at the park at Changi Ferry Road before throwing it into the sea.

The man then threatened to kill the remaining three strays in the area if they were not removed by the weekend.

The man's alleged threat prompted the activists to go into overdrive mode to rescue as many of the dogs as possible, "just in case he carries out his threat".

Said Ms Mary Soo - the former chairman of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and now co-founder of Oasis 2nd Chance: "There were four dogs plying the park but recently one went missing. We wanted to get the remaining three out in case Jeffrey went after them."

But the rescue mission, which started at about 11pm, soon turned ugly.

After successfully trapping two of the strays, the group was trying to lure the third into the fenced-up area when Jeffrey turned up after midnight.

"He was ranting and going into details of how he was going to kill the dogs when I told him to leave them alone," Ms Soo said.

Jeffrey then turned violent, she alleged.

"He elbowed me and used expletives in Hokkien. When I told him to stop talking to me that way, he punched me," claimed Ms Soo.

In the meantime, one of the volunteers had sought help from a patrol car parked in the area.

The officers went over and stopped the dispute.

Ms Soo said she made a police report that same night.

On Friday, a day after the alleged assault, Oasis 2nd Chance uploaded an account of it on its Facebook wall.

The post went viral when other animal welfare groups shared it.

Despite the alleged altercation, Ms Soo and other volunteers were out again on Friday night till 4.30am on Saturday to try again to capture the last dog.

The New Paper team was with them when Jeffrey was spotted around 2am.

Upon seeing a large group, he kept his distance.

Incidentally, the third dog, which volunteers named Moo Moo, still remains free.