Groomers snip off dog's tongue but get away with medical compensation only

Dog groomers are supposed to keep dogs looking good. Unfortunately for STOMPer Wapi Aware’s dog, its tongue was snipped off by careless groomers and little has been done to compensate his owners since then.

Although the grooming shop paid the STOMPer back for medical costs incurred, the owners have hardly given them a proper explanation and seem reluctant to talk to the STOMPer.

Appalled by their nonchalant attitude, the sender approached various institutions like CASE, SPCA and AVA for help.

Despite this, none of them could do anything to punish the groomers.

A Facebook page has been set up to spread the word about what happened to Wapi.

Here are some excerpts of the story, as told by Wapi’s owner on the page:

“I was a happy three-year old Yorkshire Terrier until my tongue was cut off by my groomers on August 28, 2010.

“I will have to live my future life, mutilated and mentally scarred.

“My owners are emotionally distressed by my injury and have been running around trying to get my veterinary report (took one whole week), rushing home after work and waking up early to give me medication and trying to appeal to authorities to do something!

“The purpose of this page is to:

“1) Publicise the gross negligence of a pet groomer which resulted in our dog's tongue being cut off while grooming and how consequently, we were only offered and compensated for the medical costs ($66+ $152 = $218).

“This could happen to your dog too!

“2) Generate enough public awareness so that the proper authorities will step in and set up protocol and jurisdiction in the event of such atrocities.

“Can you imagine if a barber or hairdresser disfigured his client this seriously while shaving or cutting their hair? Would a mere apology and a trip to the doctor suffice?

“Wapi's tongue was cut off by his groomer and there is nothing much that can be done after this incident!

“CASE said: ‘The best outcome you can hope for is contract compensation.’

“SPCA said: ‘Unfortunately, there is no jurisdiction in Singapore on groomers causing grievous hurt to pets. We can only refer you to AVA’.

“AVA - HAVE STOPPED INVESTIGATIONS!”

Source: http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/3552/4128/458790