Friday, January 06, 2012

And The Winners Are - The Local Councils!

aNt's aNgle:

I HOPE you enjoyed BFM's show yesterday as much as I did appearing on it with my co-guests from the Klang Municipality (MPK) and the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ).


The animal lovers - and notably only a few of them - who kept on insisting on keeping dogs in the streets presented a rather pathetic case.

Only one or two of them, I recall, made good points. They suggested that dogs in pounds should be carefully assessed and given special consideration for re-homing - a procedure where condemned canines are cleaned up, cared for and re-homed with the expert assistance of animal nongovernmental organisations. 

Other animal lovers pointed out that though they loved dogs very much, they couldn't tolerate strays disturbing their rubbish bins, defecating everywhere and even attacking their own dogs on leashes when they take them for walks. 

One couple whose partner was in a wheelchair told of incidents when their dog - used for animal-assisted therapy - was attacked many times when they took their special canine for strolls. 

Zulkifli Abbas, Head of Health of MPK was brilliant when he admitted that his council used to keep ceased dogs in their vans because they had no pound. He quickly pointed out that that all changed when MPK finally had their own pound. 

Now strays are kept there for seven days to be adopted or collected from owners before they are put down painlessly. 


He also gave special credit to the Canine Action Team committee which was formed about two years ago, pointing out that MPK had learnt and benefited much after its setting up. 

MBPJ pointed out on the many numbers of residents who called and demanded for action to be taken against the strays.

I was left with the unpleasant job of putting down the hard facts to "hard-core" animal lovers on their support for Trap, Neuter, Release and Manage programme.

And that is, there is no scientific evidence that TNRM has worked anywhere in the world. Its "benefits" are extremely controversial. 

I also pointed out the the largest animal NGO in the world, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals or PETA has debunked TNRM, saying that more animals would be subject to greater cruelty and persecution than in pounds and shelters and homes where animals live. 

I also made it a point of condemning adoption programmes for strays in supermarkets which are practised by some animal rescue NGOs. 

This is hypocrisy at its height. 

These NGOs had not only denounced pet shops recently but also called for their immediate closure but are guilty of practising this unscrupulous act when it comes to their own organisation.

All in all folks, it was a great show. 

BFM said that callers were just flooding the phone lines and the Internet with Twitter and Facebook so much so that they simply couldn't put through every call. 

I have suggested to BFM that in addition to featuring the programme in a podcast, that they consider rebroadcasting the whole show one of these days for the benefit of radio listeners. 

After all, this is the very first time in my memory that two local councils had gone on air to talk about dogs!

 Woof, woof, everyone!

And now, listen to the show. . . 



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2 comments:

Sharmini Tharmadevi said...

Tony, you were marvellous on BFM. You are right, at best, those against the pounds and the capture of dogs had no essence in what they were saying.

Keep you your good job. The animals SO NEED YOU at the local councils.

Mustaffa Ali said...

Dog lovers are so selfish. They love animals more than human beings. I enjoyed your talk. You were very fair.