M E T R O Saturday September 15, 2007
MPS scraps contest
By STUART MICHAEL
stuartmichaelstar@gmail.com
The meeting between Selayang Municipal Council (MPS) and animal rights groups yesterday has brought the controversy pertaining to the controversial Dog-catching Comp-etition to an end.
A consensus was reached yesterday with MPS cancelling the competition and agreeing to work with Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and other animal rights groups to deal with the stray dog problems in the municipality.
The meeting, held at the MPS building, was attended by state exco member Datuk Tang See Hang and council president Zainal Abidin Azim who met some 30 representatives from SPCA, Malaysian Animals Rights and Welfare Society, Pet-positive and other animal rights groups.
Fruitful meeting: Tang explaining the decision during the meeting.
As Tang and Zainal entered the conference room on the ninth floor of the MPS building, there were people waiting outside the building holding placards wanting the dog-catching competition stopped.
As Tang was seated at the conference room on the ninth floor, SPCA representative N. Suren-dran, who is also Malaysian Animals Rights and Welfare Society (Roar) pro-tem committee president, demanded that the dog-catching competition be scrapped.
Tang asked him to calm down and said the issue had to be discussed rationally.
Surendran together with Petpositive president Anthony Thanasayan and Malaysian Association for Responsible Pet Ownership president Dr John Satyamoorthy then left in a huff.
Tang and Zainal then listened to the views, comments and explanations from SPCA chairperson Christine Chin who acted as the spokesperson for the group.
After about one hour of discussions, Tang announced that the competition would be cancelled.
As soon as Tang announced this, representatives of animal rights organisations, including Chin, clapped while there were many smiles around the conference room.
For the animals: Surendran (right) and others protesting outside the MPS building.
Chin explained the influx of stray dogs was due to the people who abandoned them and not the dogs.
“Dog will breed as usual in the wild and we are not asking for a stop to dog catching but it must be done in a humane way.
“Pet owners should be responsible for their actions and be given hefty fines for abandoning pets.
“We should also educate children and residents not to leave their dogs but spay them to help curb this problem,” said Chin.
Tang also said he is looking at implementing microchips in dogs to track them down and identify the owners should the dog be caught roaming.
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