A 38-year-old Singaporean woman of Vietnamese origin was handed a four-week prison sentence for killing her stepdaughter’s parrot in Singapore last October.
On October 27 last year, Tran Thi Thuy Hang, a manicurist, was infuriated when the parrot bit her cheek after she returned to her home in Sengkang from work, The Straits Times reported.
Her 26-year-old stepdaughter Yu Mei Ling claimed that the parrot named “Lucky” who was bought by her father Yu Ching Meng six years ago was not aggressive as it did not attack anyone.
Tran complained to her 60-year-old husband and claimed that the bird should be either ousted or killed.
At 8 am on the following day, Tran opened the birdcage and repeatedly hit the parrot with a bamboo laundry pole till it died. She showed her husband the bird carcass, then threw it and the cage into a nearby rubbish chute, the court was told.
Tran’s stepdaughter originally did not want to call the police but she reported the case to the Agri-Food Veterinary Authority a week later, allegedly because Tran showed a lack of remorse.
Tran was charged with one count of animal abuse. On August 1, she was given a four-week jail term after she pleaded guilty in a court last month. Judge Adam Nakhoda said her actions were “calculated and deliberate”.
In Singapore, animal abusers can be fined S$15,000 (US$10,981) and jailed up to 18 months.
Last December, Yu Mei Ling received a new parrot from her father and named it “Lucky” again, as they both missed the bird that was killed.