While there has recently been slight progress in the area of animal welfare in Singapore, the culling of our strays dogs is continuing at an alarming pace, mainly due to rapid urbanization. A group of volunteering stray lovers, feeders and rescuers from various walks of life have come together with the purpose of pursuing change for these innocent animals. We have named our group simply: SOSD.
The SOSD’s mission is simple. We aim “to eliminate cruelty and abandonment of animals, enhancing their welfare, and improve the lives of animals and humans, through rescue, education and advocacy.”
Click here to download the SOSD Information Booklet
SOSD is unified by the common passion and conviction to be the voice of our homeless strays, to champion their cause and to bring about a positive change in their lives. Our group objectives are simple. We focus on advocating for the strays, and assisting in managing the integration and acceptance of mongrels in society. Our mission is to save our street dogs and give them a chance in life, to the best of our ability. Until each dog has a refuge; a home to call its own and in which it is dearly loved.
We strive to save our street dogs through 3 key areas of focus:
Advocate & Educate
SOSD actively advocates against the culling of our street dogs as well as for changes to stray management policies and the welfare of strays. Our work is grounded in compassion for our street dogs who often lead very harsh and miserable lives, often as a result of the land on which they live on being taken over for the purposes of construction and due to the callousness of man.
Whilst SOSD recognises that not everyone may be an animal lover, this is no excuse for the abuse that our street dogs often suffer, often leaving them dead or severely maimed. We continually advocate against abuse and also educate the public on how not to provoke stray dogs that they may encounter. It is also SOSD’s mission to reach out to the public to correct the common misconception that mongrels are all ferocious, dirty and somehow, second-class dogs compared to pedigree breeds. Mongrels are extremely intelligent and generally tend to be healthier than pure breds given their varied genetic makeup. Street dogs make exceedingly loyal pets, grateful for a home and for the love shown to them.
Rescue & Rehome
SOSD rescues and rehomes as many stray dogs and puppies as our limited resources allow us to. . For the ones that are wounded, we do what we can to give them good veterinary care and help nurse them back to health before finding them homes.
Rescue efforts entail an astronomical cost that includes trapping and redemption operations, boarding fees and vet care. We do not own a shelter andare currently renting a few kennels from a commercial entity as a temporary holding area for some of our rescues. But kennel space fills up very quickly and we will have to depend on available fosterers in order to save more dogs as we are unable to undertake a rescue if we have nowhere for the dog to go to. We are constantly finding that there are more dogs and pups to be rescued than there are fosterers. In order to save more lives, it is imperative that we have our very own SOSD shelter. We are working towards building it. But we can’t do it alone.
Rehoming street dogs in Singapore is another uphill task but we do our best. SOSD adopts a mandatory screening process for every potential adoption. This is to ensure that our rescued dogs do not fall into the wrong hands, and that all goes well for the dog and family.
Sterilization for Humane Population Control
SOSD believes in sterilisation as a humane method for the control of the stray population. We sterilise our adult dogs before we put them up for adoption and follow-up on our adopted puppies to ensure that they are sterilised when they are old enough. SOSD also advocates that our authorities implement a nationwide sterilisation program for our street dogs.
Find out more on Trap-Neuter-Release-Manage (TNRM).
Get to know our Management Committee.
Read more about SOSD Annual Report.
