Many of you have heard about our eviction from Lim Chu Kang, so we thought we’d set up a page to explain what’s happening and where we are going.

In short, as of October 2022 we have left Lim Chu Kang, our home of 6 years, and moved into 2 units at The Animal Lodge (TAL) in Tengah.

Many have DM’ed us to ask why this is happening, and how we ended up at TAL. Many have also very kindly offered us generous help and support (Thank you!!). So, read on to find out the full story in the words of Metta’s owner Terry!

A Message from Terry Lim, on the Story behind our Move

“Greetings to all concerned!

Since the early 80s, the founder, Madam Lee Siew Ying had been rescuing and feeding stray dogs and cats. It was only until the late 90s that she found like-minded individuals to start a shelter for these homeless children.

Since then, we’ve faced many trials and tribulations, starting with our first location in Pasir Ris Farmway. Whilst farms are ideal locations to house the animals as the noise and smell would be kept away from urban residents, these locations also come with problems that rarely happen in urban areas. Electricity, water supply and flooding were the most common and frequent problems in the Pasir Ris farm, due to the rudimentary facilities of a farm area. These also meant more costly maintainance work for the structures due to constant exposure to the elements. Employing contractors to do such work also posed another costly and time consuming effort.

In addition, poisonous and predatory snakes were always present in the vicinity, and protecting the farm against these were very challenging since the structures were built in an open concept.

Finally, being out in the boonies would also mean help would take more time to arrive should there be an emergency.

About six years ago, we moved from our 20-year home in Pasir Ris to our current space in 80 Lim Chu Kang. It was a very difficult time. We rushed out of Pasir Ris due to a severe infestation of snakes and also due to the land lease being close to the due date.

Now, in Lim Chu kang, we are also facing a similar issue with the land lease.

We were notified this year that we might have to move. However, finding another location to move over a hundred animals is not an easy task, especially in Singapore. Other farms were no longer available or are facing similar eviction issues, therefore finding another farm or similar location was no longer an option.

Multiple locations around Singapore were scouted and found to be very suitable but not allowed to have change of use by authorities due to the Master zoning plan. Each time we found a suitable place, time was needed to request a change of purpose for the respective location or property involved sometimes days, sometimes weeks, which prolonged the search to no end.

Other available locations in private residential areas were too small and with extremely expensive rent which we could not afford. These locations were also less desirable with other people living close by. The noise and smell that comes with any animal shelter would generate a lot of understandable complaints from neighbours.

We then resorted to finding other less orthodox locations, such as warehouses, factories, commercial buildings and even open land, but we were turned down by all the individual proprietors or the respective authorities.

As the date for eviction approached, we wrote to several Members of Parliament explaining our plight. They referred our situation to NParks and AVS, which were in charge of TAL. Our landlord, in the past year, has also been writing many letters to SLA, the agency in charge of the current land that we are on, to request a time extension of a few months till December or early 2023.

Unfortunately, none of the requests were approved.

The authorities at TAL arranged for a meeting with us early this year in April with several other agencies confirming with us that we have a need for a new location and that our lease was due in July. Upon our query on where we had permission to go, we were told they would try to find alternative locations for us. We also redoubled our efforts in the meantime to find another location. Nothing came through.

Finally, in July, we were offered 2 units in TAL, but only received our keys on August 5, which was beyond our lease expiry and ate into the grace period of 28 days. It was only then we could even start planning our renovation process, the units offered to us were empty open units with basic structure and electrical works that needed to be done.

This was actually a very ideal setting for us to renovate to our liking, but sadly, due to the time constraint and limitations posed by authorities, we were only able to do a very rudimentary plan, not vaguely even close to what we wanted to do for the maximum comfort for the animals. We also had to employ Civil engineers and inspection officers to finalise our designs and wait for approval from the authorities which will take a week or more.

Our total time needed for renovating will extend into early September at the least for move-in conditions. Luckily, we received a notification that the grace period had been extended to end of September, and that is why we are all now very busy rushing through the renovations and preparing to move all our animals, equipment, supplies, furniture and other effects as quickly as possible.

Many thanks for all your support over the years and I hope you will continue to lend us your generosity for the challenging weeks ahead!”

Regards

Terry.

Update: We have settled into our new home at The Animal Lodge

Follow our new adventures over at @mcds_adoptions for the latest updates!