| COMMENT: Here is an excellent example of how animal NGOs can work for change for animal rights and welfare with local councils. The SPSPCA and MIAR have done a commanding job or raising animal welfare concerns with the MPSPK. They had not only managed to get their message effectively across but they also opened up the way in which they could educate the local council on how to carry out their jobs more humanely. Compare this with MDDB, another so-called animal NGO that is infamous for its vulgar and obscene language, among others. Their mischief was exposed over the weekend when they tried to give a bad image on MBPJ's dogcatching unit by claiming that the council was on a "bloodthirsty witch-hunt of dogs in Petaling Jaya". They even went further to allege that MBPJ dogcatchers treated stray dogs cruelly when they handed it over to PAWS Animal Welfare Shelter in Subang - something PAWS itself had rubbished to PET+BLOGSPOT. Lead the way MIAR and SPSPCA! | |||||||||
Tuesday May 22, 2012
Groups’ growl of unhappiness
By ANNE HASLAM
north@thestar.com.my
The Sungai Petani Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and Kuala Lumpur-based Malaysia Independent Animal Rescue (MIAR) want the council to come up with better ways to handle strays.
They claim that the dog catchers kicked, dragged and roughly handled the strays, and will submit their proposal to the council on the correct ways to handle the dogs.
Sungai Petani SPCA secretary V. Devi said the cages at the MPSPK pound off Jalan Kuala Ketil here where the strays are kept, have their latches at the top.
She claimed that the dogs were dragged in and out of the high cage with a rope looped around their necks which can lead to strangulation and death.
“Why does the opening have to be at the top and not at the side so the animals don’t have to be yanked out in such a cruel manner,” said Devi after lodging the report at the Kuala Muda district police headquarters here yesterday.
She and a small group of people from SPCA and MIAR also held a brief protest over the treatment of the strays after lodging their police report.
Devi said the society had received complaints from the public over the handling of the strays by dog catchers.
She claimed that she did not see food and water in the cages on an earlier visit to the pound which comes under the purview of the Veterinary Services Department.
The department’s officers cull unclaimed dogs every Thursday by lethal injection, said its district veterinary officer Tan Kia Hing.
Tan said owners were given a week to claim their dogs by paying a RM130 fine, which is inclusive of the dog licence fee, to MPSPK.
He said the department had advised the council workers to put a soft sponge on the loops when pulling the dogs out, to act as a cushion and prevent the animals from choking but this has yet to be done.
He said the department’s officers carried out checks at the pound from time to time and had been advising the workers to treat the animals as humanely as possible.
MPSPK assistant environmental officer Abdul Malek Shafie, who met the SPCA and MIAR members at the pound, said the council workers were not given the proper training and guidance on how to handle the dogs but they were open to suggestions for improvement.
He said budget constraints had also prevented them from improving the facilities and they could only carry out basic maintenance at the pound.
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