--- title: "Golden Mile hawker, 70, fiercely denies Stomper’s accusations that he ‘cruelly squished’ and killed rat" url: "/singapore-seen/golden-mile-hawker-70-fiercely-denies-stompers-accusations-he-cruelly-squished-and-killed-rat" published: "2026-10-22T08:57:50.000Z" updated: "2026-10-22T08:57:50.000Z" section: "Singapore Seen" authors: ["Cherlynn Ng"] tags: ["rat","rats","hawker centre","Golden Mile","hawker","Singapore Seen"] --- # Golden Mile hawker, 70, fiercely denies Stomper’s accusations that he ‘cruelly squished’ and killed rat An elderly hawker at Golden Mile Food Centre has denied claims of animal cruelty after he was caught on camera picking up a rat and throwing it in the bin. Stomper TBP said he witnessed the incident at the Beach Road hawker centre on Oct 3 at around 4pm. “I saw a baby-ish rat running across from a pile of things under a table to the front of a stall,” recounted TBP. The Stomper said the rat “wasn’t particularly big” and looked “rather cute”, so he started recording a video. ## Stomper cites animal cruelty and inappropriate handling of rat “As I was zoomed in on the rat, a hand wrapped in a red plastic bag and what looked like kitchen towels suddenly swooped down and grabbed it,” he recalled. “A pair of hands then very cruelly squished and twisted the bag.” TBP said he was shocked to see the “poor rat crushed and mangled in the plastic bag”. He identified the pair of hands as belonging to the owner of the aforementioned stall. “The rat might have been vermin, but is there no better way to handle this?” he asked. “Is the bag even strong enough to prevent the remains of the rat from spilling out? Wouldn’t it rupture as a result of the twisting and pressing?” TBP claimed that the stall owner “continued twisting and squishing the plastic bag” as he walked to the dustbin to dispose of the animal. “After he disposed of the plastic bag with the rat at the common rubbish bin, which was located right next to some tables, he walked back to his stall,” said the Stomper. “The poor rat must have suffered so much in its last moments. Imagine eating at those tables while a plastic bag filled with the cruel remains and oozing guts of a dead rat is right beside you.” TBP raised concerns about animal cruelty and pest handling. He hopes sharing the incident and video on Stomp will help to reach the authorities. “We need cleaner food centres. We need proper methods of eradicating and disposing of vermin,” he said. “We need stallholders that did not cook our next meal with the same pair of hands that just cruelly caught and squished/mangled the life out of a living rat.” TBP acknowledged that the rat might be a pest that can cause potential health risks, but “it is still a living thing”. “We should treat all life with respect and dispatch it as humanly and painlessly as possible,” he added. ## Perception of rats as pests does not justify cruelty: Acres Chief executive of the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres), Kalai Vanan Balakrishnan, highlighted the need to manage rat populations, particularly in food courts and hawker centres. “However, compassion must guide the methods used, including how rats are handled after capture,” said Kalai on Oct 7 in response to Stomp’s queries. “We would not do this to a cat, yet similar treatment of a rat is often considered acceptable because rats are associated with disease. That perception does not justify cruelty. Rats experience pain and suffering, just as other animals do.” Kalai added that besides causing unnecessary suffering, such treatment involves close contact with captured rats, “potentially increasing exposure to the very hygiene and disease risks people are concerned about”. He urged hawker centres to address the conditions that attract rats by improving food storage, waste management and general cleanliness. “Effective rat management must address these underlying issues while ensuring that animals are treated humanely,” Kalai noted. ## Hawker upset by Stomper’s accusations and video, denies killing rat The hawker in question was outraged when Stomp visited his stall and informed him about TBP’s claims. He said the rat was already dead and he had picked it up to clear it because it was right in front of his stall. “Would I have been able to catch it if it was still alive and moving?” asked the visibly agitated 70-year-old, who was shown the Stomper’s footage multiple times at his request. “I was not being cruel. The rat lying dead there had nothing to do with me.” According to the hawker, who has been operating his stall for 28 years, the authorities came down and spoke to him last week. “They checked my stall and found no issues. They advised me not to clear pests by myself next time and to approach the cleaners instead.” Asked if he thinks rats are a prevalent issue at the hawker centre, the stall owner told Stomp: “Not really. There are rats and cockroaches everywhere.” TBP, however, reiterated that the rat was still alive when he first spotted it. He said: “If the rat was already dead, why bother catching it so fast? To the point that he almost pounced on it? And why was there a need to keep twisting and kneading the bag after he caught it? We would just tie it up securely if it were a dead rat.” The Stomper also alleged that a dead rat would not have gone unnoticed for hours, from when the stall opened at 11am to when the video was recorded at 4pm. Stomp has contacted the relevant authority for more info.