Thursday, September 13, 2007, 09.20 PM
NST Online » Local News
2007/09/13
MB: Review dog-catching competition
By : V. Shankar Ganesh
SHAH ALAM: The state government has ordered the Selayang Municipal Council (MPS) to take another look at its controversial dog-catching competition.
Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo said the reward amount was unreasonable and too high.
He said efforts to reduce the number of stray dogs in Selayang was the common responsibility of the residents and the local authority.
"We understand that MPS organised the competition in good faith as it hoped to attract the locals’ attention in solving the stray dogs problem.
"However, the prize money is too high and we want them to take another look at the competition."
He said this to the press after chairing the weekly state executive council meeting here yesterday.
He was responding to questions raised on the issue following calls from various quarters to scrap the competition as it could lead to cruelty in catching the dogs and also theft of dogs from homes.
The competition rules state that residents’ associations would be given RM20 for each stray brought in.
Winners will be picked every six months. To qualify for the three top prizes of RM15,000, RM13,000 and RM11,000, more than 150 dogs must be caught within that period.
The residents’ association that catches the most strays would get a consolation prize of RM2,000 if the target of 150 dogs was not met.
MPS came under heavy fire from various quarters for organising the competition.
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