Couple accused of 'convenience euthanasia' report dog rescuer for doxxing

A dog rescuer has been accused of doxxing after he spoke out against a couple who had euthanised their young, healthy pet.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday (May 6), Gan Theng Wei alleged that the pair had put their dog to sleep for biting one of them and another girl, fearing that their pet would similarly hurt their newborn child.

Gan quoted the owners: "We wouldn't want to risk it with the baby and everything."

The two-year-old dog, Loki, was adopted by the couple in December 2017 after Exclusively Mongrels Limited (EML) bailed him out from the former Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore.

Although the owners told him they had tried to rehome Loki, Gan said they had not asked EML for help with the process. He also accused them of failing to engage a dog trainer to work on Loki's behaviour prior to the birth of their child.

His post sparked an online furore, with many netizens lambasting not only the couple for their actions, but also the vet who had agreed to their request.

After Gan's Facebook post went viral, online vigilantes quickly dug out and shared the pet owners' information. The couple have since deactivated and made private their social media accounts and cannot be contacted.

Gan was also instructed to remove his post after he was interviewed by the police.

Despite being accused of doxxing, the animal rescuer stood firm by his decision to bring the incident to light.

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He wrote in a follow-up post today (May 8): "I had done what I felt was right to raise awareness of horrible dog owners choosing the easy way out by putting their dogs to sleep. And to call out unethical vets who will agree to terminate innocent lives."

"If I had unknowingly broken the law by doing that, I will accept full responsibility. And the responsibility is mine alone."

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Louis Ng, Member of Parliament and founder of animal welfare charity Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES), also weighed in on the issue, saying on Facebook that the incident bore similarities to another case seven years ago, where a puppy named Tammy was euthanised for aggressive behaviour.

Having heard of Loki's plight, he, too, shared the public's grief and concerns.

"I will raise this in Parliament and call for measures to be put in place to ensure that this needless killing ends," Ng promised. "We must put an end to 'convenience euthanasia'. We need stricter regulations."

"I will do my best to speak up for the voiceless."

In response to AsiaOne's queries, Animal & Veterinary Services' (AVS) community animal management group director Jessica Kwok said that AVS is aware of the incident and it is looking into the matter.

rainercheung@asiaone.com