Who We Are

July 1878– Published first annual report

Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) was revived by Miss Lucia Bach who ran a boarding house and took in unwanted stray animals

RSPCA was set up formally and moved to Orchard Road

Singapore ceased to be a crown colony and the RSPCA became the SPCA

Sterilisations made compulsory for SPCA-adopted animals

An official clinic was set up to provide a service to members of the public. The facilities are also used to treat the Society’s animals and carry out sterilisations

Moved to 31 Mount Vernon as the government acquired the Orchard Road Land

SPCA started distributing free sterilisation vouchers for community cats and dogs to caregivers and other welfare groups to help reduce the community cat and dog populations down

SPCA proposed to the government to increase the penalties of those found guilty of cruelty to animals.

The government increased penalties for those who found guilty of cruelty to animals from a $500 fine and 6 months jail term to a $10,000 fine and one year jail term

SPCA became a resource for the Community Court and our input has been sought prior to cases being heard

August 2008- SPCA together with Nature Society (Singapore) and ACRES started the “Say No to Whale Sharks in Captivity” campaign to stop Resorts World Sentosa from bringing in a whale shark for display in their aquarium

November 2009 – Resorts World Sentosa formally scrapped plans for the whale shark exhibition

October 2010- SPCA joined forces with other animal welfare groups in Singapore – ACRES, ASD, Animal Lovers League, Cat Welfare Society, House Rabbit Society of Singapore (HRSS) and Noah’s Ark Cares – to conduct an undercover survey of all the 36 pet shops and pet farms selling puppies in Singapore and launched the “Stop the Cruelty in Puppy Mills” campaign to bring light to the conditions of breeding dogs in these puppy mills.

January 2011 – SPCA wrote to the press reiterating our stand on dolphins in captivity, urging RWS to reconsider its decision in exhibiting bottlenose dolphins and in response to the death of two of the seven bottlenose dolphins destined for RWS. The fight continues.
2011 – SPCA together with Action for Singapore Dogs (ASD) proposed to allow HDB residents to adopt local mixed breed dogs (Project Adore)

December 2011 –SPCA submitted a proposal for legislative reform (Animals and Birds Act, Part IV, the ‘Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ sections 42 to 44) to the Ministry of National Development and apart from proposing increased penalties for existing offences based on cruelty, we are proposing that failure to take care of the welfare of pets should also amount to an offence and be punishable as such.

April 2012 –Project Adore piloted by the Ministry of National Development (MND), Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) and Housing Development Board (HDB), allowing HDB flat owners to adopted selected medium sized local mixed breed dogs which are up to 15kg in weight and 50 cm in height

May 2014 – Project Adore was formalised in Parliament

October 2014 –New developments to the animal abuse charges under the Animals and Birds Act. First time offenders of animal cruelty could be fined up to $15,000, jailed up to 18 months or both. Offenders who are in animal-related businesses will face heftier penalties for animal cruelty up to $40,000 in fines or jail, not exceeding two years or both.

June 2015- SPCA and AVA started the Stray Cat Sterilisation Programme which aims to further reduce the number of stray cats in HDB estates.

January 2016 – SPCA relocated to 50 Sungei Tengah Road

18 June 2016 – Minister K. Shanmugam officially opened the SPCA

SPCA planned to upgrade its basic clinic into a full fledge veterinary clinic with facilities comparable to private clinics

2 December 2017-Inaugural Benefit Gala to raise funds for the upgrading of the clinic

SPCA planned to upgrade its basic clinic into a full fledge veterinary clinic with facilities comparable to private clinics

10 November 2018 – The 5-year nationwide Trap-Neuter-Release-Manage programme for community dogs was officially launched by Mr Desmond Lee. This programme aims to sterilise 70% of the stray dog population in Singapore, humanely manage the stray dog population. SPCA is the lead animal welfare group for the programme.

July 2019 – Mr Desmond Lee officially opened Singapore’s only not-for-profit Community Animal Clinic at SPCA. The clinic serves not only animals under SPCA’s care but also community animals, animals under the care of other shelters and pets from low income households

March 2020 – Under a 2-year pilot, the height criterion for Project Adore was revised to 55cm from 50cm and the weight criterion was removed, allowing more local mixed breed dogs to be adopted by HDB flat owners

The SPCA celebrated our 75th Anniversary