Authorities working with popular Seletar petting farm to rehome animals, find alternative sites for its businesses

SINGAPORE ꟷ The authorities are working with a popular petting farm in Seletar, which is closing its doors after two decades to make way for new roads, to rehome its animals and find alternative premises for its pet-related businesses.

The owner of The Animal Resort, Mr Thierry Lim, has been advised to consider bidding for commercial units for his retail business, the National Parks Board (NParks), JTC and the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) said on Sunday (Dec 6) in a joint reply to TODAY’s queries.

He has also taken up a commercial unit which had been previously allocated to him at The Animal Lodge, a facility for pet farms and animal shelters managed by NParks at Sungei Tengah, allowing him to continue with his pet boarding business, they said.

“JTC and NParks had suggested other sites for the tenant to tender for the petting farm but they were assessed by the tenant to be unsuitable. As such, NParks has been exploring options for the rehoming of his animals and will continue to work closely with him to ensure the animals’ welfare and health,” added the agencies.

JTC Corporation is the incoming landlord for the area while NParks manages the land occupied by the farm, located at 81 Seletar West Farmway 5.

The farm announced on Wednesday that it will shut its doors on Jan 10 as the area it sits on has been earmarked for redevelopment.

Home to several animals including a horse, marabou stork and cassowary, the place is popular among families with young children. It also runs pet boarding and pet relocation services.

An animal welfare group and pet cremation service also operate on the 2ha site.

The agencies said that they have been working with Mr Lim, 63, to extend the farm’s current tenancy and that the lease had been extended eight times since its original expiry in 2002.

“The site is slated for redevelopment to build supporting infrastructure such as roads for the area’s upcoming uses and allocation to industries,” the agencies said.

“Taking into consideration the timeline for development works, The Animal Resort had been offered a final tenancy extension of one year and nine months till September 2022.”

They added that to ensure the safety of the farm’s structures, NParks had engaged a Professional Engineer to conduct a structural inspection in January this year. As there were structural defects in some buildings at the site, the engineer had recommended rectification works.

“The tenant is required to follow through with the Professional Engineer’s recommendations for the safety of the public and its workers,” said the agencies.

As they would have to vacate by September 2022, the Lim family had told TODAY that they did not want to fork out S$250,000 to S$300,000 for rectification works to renew their lease, which was due to expire at the end of this month.

The family is now making preparations to rehome its 50 or so animals to other farms in Lim Chu Kang and Sungei Tengah, and even Malaysia.