Love them, but not too much: SPCA's longest-serving employee on coping with the ups and downs of handling animals for 46 years
Over the decades of tending to animals that were abandoned, rescued, lost or abused, Mr Pribakaran Kunju said the key to handling his emotions through the many ups and downs is to love them without getting too attached.
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It would be easy to make the mistaken assumption that Mr Pribakaran Kunju joined the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) Singapore to answer a personal calling, given that he has served there for almost five decades.
The truth is, this longest-serving employee at the animal welfare organisation started out afraid of dogs and did not have any particular affinity for other furry creatures.
Mr Pribakaran, who turns 69 this month and is married with children, had stumbled upon the job opportunity during a chance meeting with an old friend back in 1979.
“My friend had asked me, ‘Do you want a job at SPCA?’ And I replied, ‘What is SPCA?’” he told me candidly.
Despite his initial hesitation at signing up for a job involving animals, Mr Pribakaran eventually agreed to go for an interview with his friend, who promised him that he would have nothing to fear because they would be working side by side.
However, he had to confront his phobia from the moment he stepped into the SPCA office, then located along Orchard Road, for the job interview in November 1979.
“The dogs all rushed to me. You know what I did? I was very frightened, so I went and hugged my friend. ‘I don't want, I don't want. The dogs, all coming, smelling, smelling'.” he recounted. “Wah, I was very scared.”
Fast forward 46 years and you could say Mr Pribakaran is a changed man.
For one whole morning at the SPCA grounds along Sungei Tengah Road recently, I observed how the senior shelter executive effortlessly helped to clean the cat enclosures and feed them while lovingly petting them.
He also took a dog for a walk around the premises that morning, all his old fears having vanished through the years of working with the creatures and falling in love with them.
