Man charged after dog died at Tanjong Katong grooming facility; it was allegedly left unattended

SINGAPORE - A man was handed an animal cruelty charge on Sept 23 following the death of a standard poodle after it was allegedly left unattended for about 1½ hours at a pet grooming facility.

Chan Yew Heng, 51, was a director at Pawsome.sg in Tanjong Katong Road at the time of the alleged offence.

He is accused of committing the offence between 9.15 am and 10.45 am on Oct 30, 2025.

According to court documents, no one was attending to the dog called Buddy, which was around four years old, when its forelegs were trapped by a playpen, resulting in extensive traumatic injury to them.

The dog died soon after.

Chan is expected to plead guilty on Oct 21.

A first-time offender convicted of the crime can be jailed for up to two years, fined up to $40,000 or both.

In November 2025, The Straits Times reported that Buddy’s owner Tanish Dhillon had said that a transport service picked up the white dog at around 8.30am on Oct 30 that year.

Buddy was later dropped off at Pawsome at around 9.15am.

Dhillon added that at 11.45am, he received a call from the grooming facility, telling him that Buddy had died.

Shaffiq Alkhatib is The Straits Times’ court correspondent, covering mainly criminal cases heard at the State Courts.