A delivery rider has won praise online after he refused to dump two cats at a temple as instructed by a customer, instead finding them a new home at a motorcycle repair shop.
Facebook user BA Ran posted the story on June 28 in a group for Lalamove riders to share advice and experiences.
He said he had picked up a job near his home that turned out to be very unusual.
The customer told him someone had abandoned two cats and there was no one to feed them. He was asked to take them to a temple, where they would receive care, otherwise they would die on the street.
While he was on the phone with the customer, he noticed two women hiding nearby and watching him. When he moved to approach them, the pair ran off.
On arriving at the temple, the rider took note of the large number of stray dogs already there, and decided against leaving the cats there. He instead took them to a motorcycle repair shop he was familiar with. As luck would have it, an acquaintance of the shop owner agreed to adopt them on the spot.
"Even though it meant driving further, I got lucky. The orange one and the black one were so calm, they let people pick them up without fuss. I just hope the world can be a little kinder to them," the rider wrote.
He acknowledged he may have breached the delivery platform's rules by not completing the job as instructed. "I did what I had to do, so please don't ban me from the app," he wrote.
"I didn't drop the cats off where I was supposed to, I instead dropped them off with someone who loves cats."
The post drew widespread praise from netizens and fellow riders, who commended him for prioritising the animals' safety over completing the job, and many called on Lalamove not to penalise him.
