Why Do People Keep Trying to Smuggle Puppies Into Singapore?

The Lion City has a puppy problem.

Immigration officials keep catching people trying to smuggle puppies into the city-state. A Malaysian man was caught at an immigration checkpoint in Woodlands, a neighborhood near the border with neighboring Johor Baru. The puppies, 11 of them, were stuffed into a vehicle's fake gas tank in an attempt to sneak them by border agents.

The man was caught and sentenced to 30 weeks in jail for puppy smuggling and another 20 weeks for animal cruelty. It was the latest in a slew of puppy smuggling cases to make headlines in Singapore. Last year, a man was caught trying to smuggle three puppies through the same checkpoint, this time inside a modified speaker box in the trunk. Another man was caught with a whole pack of puppies—23 in all—on a private yacht.

So why are people risking jail time to smuggle these adorable pets into Singapore?

Profit, that's why. Singapore is significantly wealthier than its Southeast Asian neighbors. The city-state's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per-capita is $52,888 USD. In Malaysia, a short ride over the Johor Causeway bridge, it drops to $9,766 USD per person. A ferry ride to Indonesia brings that number down to $3,346 USD per person.

Residents of the Little Red Dot are willing to pay more for a puppy because they can afford it. So the same dog sold in Malaysia is worth three times as much once it crosses the Straits of Johor, explained Richard Yeo, the president of Actions for Singapore Dogs (ASD), a non-profit dedicated to improve the welfare of stray dogs in Singapore.

"The cost of a puppy in Singapore is exceedingly expensive," Yeo told VICE Indonesia. "One golden retriever pup cost about S$500 [$361 USD ] in Thailand or Malaysia. The same breed could cost up to S$2,000 [$1,445 USD] in Singapore."

But while Singapore residents earn more, they also live in tighter spaces than their neighbors. Some 80.1 percent of all Singaporeans live in government-built HBD flats—which have gotten significantly smaller since the mid 90s.

"Dogs are considered luxury pets in Singapore," Yeo told VICE Indonesia. "Cramped urban living space means that most dog-owners are those living in landed property or spacious luxury condominiums. A lot of them are also dog-loving expatriates with higher-than-average salaries. Hence puppy sellers mark-up the cost."

There's also the city-state's large amount of red tape. Singapore is a rabies-free country, and it regulates the import of animals from other, non-rabies free nations. All newly imported animals need to be quarantined for 72 hours and chipped by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA). Anyone caught with a non-registered pet faces up to a year in prison and S$10,000 [$7,225 USD] in fines.

It's a substantial fine, but I guess when the contraband is this cute, it's hard for some people to say no. Plus there's no way to check where a puppy was born once it makes it past the Singaporean border. Inside the Lion City, all pups are assumed to be locals—which makes it hard to determine how big of a problem puppy smuggling actually is.

Foreign citizens already make up a sizable percentage of Singapore's population. Foreign puppies? Your guess is as good as mine. But with a face that adorable do you even care?