WEEKEND VIEW: Better to be inside than to bark from the outside

ANTHONY SB THANASAYAN, our President, has been in the news lately.

His interview in The Sun  last Wednesday appears to be one of his most controversial to date.

He was reported in the daily to be supporting the Selayang Municipal Council's (MPS) dog pound in Rawang.

A stance which had apparently raised the hackles of some dog lovers and one or two animal welfare nongovernmental organisations.  

The MPS dog pound was condemned by one of them as a "hellhole" for dogs. Another decried it as a place of "gross mismanagement".


PET+BLOGSPOT recently caught up with our President who is also Chairman of the Canine Action Teams (CAT) of the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) and Klang Municipal Council (MPK).

We asked him first if he had himself somehow strayed away from his original passion of being an animal rights activist to being now a local council supporter.

ANSWER: "There has been no shift in my priorities in supporting animal rights. If at all, my convictions have only strengthened than decreased since I joined the local council. 




"My councillor's post in MBPJ (Petaling Jaya City Council) has led me to the formation of  CAT in MBPJ in mid July of 2008 after I was appointed as city councillor.


"MBPJ became the first local council (PBT) in the country to have a monthly committee to deal with canine and feline issues, among animal concerns. 


"And because I started working with the local council, I suddenly became acutely aware of the problems faced by those in the vector (animal and insects) unit, especially when it came to pet owners and their irresponsibility to their pets, neighbours and the environment.  



"Although the two seemingly appear to be at direct opposites of each other, it remarkably became a unifying factor - strengthening further my loyalty to my animal rights activism as well as respecting the freedom and rights of non pet lovers.

"And sandwiched between the two is always the local council which has the almost impossible task of having to please everybody." 

So was that what you were trying to do in the MPS situation?

"Yes. I was - and still am - trying to bring justice to the unwanted animals in the pound. But doing that does not mean that one has to resort to insulting and condemning the people whose job it is to look after the animal shelters."

So you admit that there was some form of cruelty taking place in the pound?

"I can't answer the question because I wasn't really there to witness what happened. 

"I had to depend on mobile pictures and stories posted on blogs like most people. 

"However, what was most difficult to decipher were the facts from exaggerations.

"One so-called dog-friendly blog was clearly exploiting the situation by playing up the story to collect donations from the public.

"And I don't think people realised the subtlety in this." 

"By the time I came into the scene i.e visited the pound, there was hardly a trace of any abuse going on - if at all it happened.

"Something bad may have transpired at the pound. But what is important to focus on now is that it is not happening there any more.

"Who cares if the pound authorities are cleaning up the place every time we choose to visit them? The important thing is at least they are doing the right thing now. 

"I am not interested in a witch hunt of local councils. That doesn't help to improve the situation. What we need to do is to work with the local authorities."


But what about the pictures? 

"In short, the pictures were troubling. But it was also full of contradictions - just like the stories that were spiralling out of control so much so that it became incredulous. 


"Dogs being systematically starved to death to dogs suddenly being fed with only white rice to canines being drowned and then burnt alive as if the MPS pound was suddenly a medieval form of a crazy canine-cleansing ritual camp where MPS officials took great pleasure in torturing dogs for fun and sport.

"If cruelty of such heinous proportions occurred then why didn't any of the animal lovers make police reports against the pound and get lawyers to take the council to court since they claim they already had incriminating pictures as proof? 

"Why did the Department of Veterinary Services - the rightful body to take action against such cruetly - also not act against the MPS?

"Frankly, if any of these had happened, I would certainly like to know the outcome of these investigations and police reports because that is the right thing to do in such situations of 'cruelty'.

So what did you do in order to seek out the truth?

I decided to go straight to the horse's mouth, so to speak. I called up Dr Razif Abidin, head of Kesihatan of MPS and he agreed to meet me and take me to the pound.

Together with several NGOs and the DVS, we checked out the pound where he agreed to take several suggestions that we made, including to set up a CAT committee in MPS.

When will that happen and do you think that the MPS is sincere in its motives?

"I reckon CAT will be formed in a month or two. 

"Yes, I thought that Dr Razif was most sincere. 

"I have no reason at all to doubt his motives. 

"He says he is an animal lover and I believe him. We have been keeping in touch on the phone regularly since then.   

Someone suggested that you are pally with the councils because you want to be renewed as a councillor again.

"Well, if that were true, you are talking to a total idiot. 

"If councils are badly managed it is the job of councillors to use their influence to try and change the situation - not support something which is obviously wrong. 

"If anyone does exactly that, it's a foolproof way of not getting re-elected for sure. 

"If anyone were a true animal lover, they would be thrilled to note some of the rather incredible achievements that have already taken place with several local councils for animals. 
"These include setting up two permanent committees on dogs within the local councils, having a first ever dog forum and workshop involving all PBTs in Selangor and a spay clinic coming up soon in Shah Alam. 

"These were all initiated by CAT. We are not only concerned on the issues of dog lovers. We are also interested in non pet lovers' rights as well. 

"They have as much of a right to be able to walk in parks without having any dogs sniff them or poo and pee in their gardens or gather in packs to attack their children. 

"Dog lovers also have their right of access into public parks as long as their pets are on a leash and muzzled (where appropriate).

And what of local councils? 


"I think it is always better for NGOs to work with local councils instead of fighting with them.

"There is an old proverb which says, 'the dogs bark, but the caravan goes on.'

"Some animal activists are like the dogs that bark at the caravan. All their noise makes no difference to the vehicle.


"The trick is to try and get yourselves into the caravan. It's far more effective to bring about change from the inside."

 

PET+BLOGSPOT


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