"NO DOGS APPEARED AS IF THEY WERE STARVING to death to me when I visited the pound," declared Majlis Perbandaran Selayang (MPS) councillor Gunarajah George.He said this to PET+BLOGSPOT yesterday after making a special trip to investigate claims of abuse at the dog shelter in Rawang which is used by the local council to house strays caught by them.
"Although I did come across more than a dozen dogs that showed signs of listlessness (which probably were sick and in need of being put down), I did come across quite a few that actively barked at me when I approached their cell," he pointed out.
"Some of them even lept on their hind legs with curiosity to get a closer look at us at the pound.
"And when the food was served, many left to their feet and even fought with the other dogs to get their share." Gunarajah said.
He went on to explain that he saw dogs that looked normal as well as some that were skinny.
"But none of them, in my opinion, looked so thin that they were suffering from starvation," observed the town councillor.
However, there were several issues that concerned Gunarajah - something he said he would definitely look into:
- Rice for the dogs were served on the floor. This is not acceptable. (Food is cooked for the dogs).
- No medication to treat the infestation of ticks. According to him, requests for these were made by the kennel staff but those at the top were slow in delivering them.
- Dogs carcasses were being disposed of at the entrance and collected by the garbage truck. Upon investigation, it was learnt that the bodies were usually collected by the private veterinarian who puts down the canines. But because he had not turned up in awhile, the diseased dogs that died were disposed off in this unconventional way.
- The reason why the situation deteriorated was particularly because of the recent Chinese New Year holidays where some of the staff was not around.
He has promised to follow up on the matter at the council level. The first priority, he said, is to get the food going again.
So if the MPS were in fact trying to starve the canines with NO FOOD AND WATER, how did many survive as one person claimed this was going on for a month?
How does one also account for the fact that there are healthy dogs that came in with the sick dogs that are surviving?
Also animals can also start losing weight because of infections and diseases which could be the reason why several dogs have died in the pound.
Puppies are especially susceptible to these conditions. Puppies can also die if they are put together in cages with large dogs that deny the younger canines access to food.
The veterinarian also pointed out that if dogs were suffering from starvation, they would resort to cannibalism.
They also would not be able to defecate. This clearly contradicts one report that dogs were seen eating their own poop to survive.
Friends, it's easy to point fingers and go on a witch hunt of local councils.
But it takes a much bigger person and organisation to find out all the facts first before anyone of us tries to fire our shotguns.
Please stay tuned and we'll tell you more when were find out.
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