SPCA debuts "Singapaw Citizens" chatbot in awareness campaign

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) has partnered exclusively with Germs Digital to launch a Facebook Messenger chatbot called "Singapaw Citizens". This is to raise awareness about "community animals", which is referred to as strays or street animals.Designed by Germs Digital, the chatbot features dogs and cats in the community interacting and engaging users in entertaining yet educational conversations. In addition to being engaged in a lighthearted manner, "Singapaw Citizens" will also provide users with information on ways to interact with and help community animals. This includes responsible feeding, the importance of sterilisation, and how to report welfare and abuse cases. According to the press statement, the SPCA receives regular feedback from members of the public to remove community animals.In celebration of National Day, "Singapaw Citizens" also injected local slang and lyrics from iconic National Day songs in its conversations with users."The SPCA is always looking for new ways to spread our animal welfare messages using innovative methods, so we are thrilled to partner with Germs Digital, who had the expertise to develop this creative product. Our hope is for the chatbot to raise the profile of the cats and dogs who share our environment, and inspire the public to help them," Jaipal Singh Gill, executive director of the SPCA, said.“We realised that community dogs and cats are generally perceived as pests, and are mostly misunderstood. Hence, we decided to partner SPCA to give these animals a voice to raise awareness about them. And what better way to do so than by using chatbot technology, so people can ‘communicate’ with our community animals while learning about them,” James Chua, MD at Germs Digital, said.