Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin (in green) together with (from left) Dr Salehatul Khuzaimah Mohamad Ali, Dr Michelle Fong Wai Cheng, SPCA Selangor chairman Christine Chin, Dr Helen Mitin and Dr Farina Mustaffa Kamal at the World Animal Day event in Ampang.
EVERY October, World Animal Day is celebrated as a day of advocating animal rights and welfare.
This year’s celebration was a fun-filled and educational event, organised by Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) Selangor at its premises in Jalan Kerja Ayer Lama, Ampang.
Themed “Creating Caring and Compassionate Communities (CCCC)”, the event began with the arrival of VIPs, followed by guest-of-honour Tengku Permaisuri Selangor Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin.
Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin is the Royal Patron of the Stray Free Selangor (SFS) campaign run by the SPCA.
Various activities were held during the event including sale of pet merchandise, Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) licensing and neutering registration as well as pet insurance registration booth.
The event also allowed the public to better understand “Potong Royong”, a large-scale on-ground project that implements the spay and neutering of stray animals.
“Potong Royong” aims to reduce the number of stray animals, enhance public health and safety as well as foster responsibility among pet owners.
As of October 2023, a total of 1,349 animals have been spayed or neutered across locations such as Rawang, Hulu Langat and Klang.
Other activities at the event included demonstrations by the Fire and Rescue Department’s K9 unit and an appreciation ceremony for “Potong Royong” volunteers and sponsors, SPCA sponsors and the brave rescuers who saved a dog stuck on a cliff at Forest Hill in Damansara Perdana earlier this year.
Apart from that, the attendees were also treated to busker performance and dog training tips by certified professional dog trainer Rubini Maruthian from ABCDT.
CCCC is a dedicated initiative that fosters empathy, kindness and compassion.
It aims to bridge communication and actionable gaps to ensure that all stakeholders can work harmoniously to reduce stray animals and encourage adoption.
The efforts include proposals for local councils in the management of stray animals and implementation of animal freedom, freedom from hunger/thirst, discomfort, pain/injury/disease, fear/distress and freedom to express normal behaviour.
The initiative also encourages municipal pounds to provide education, and spaying/neutering and rehoming programmes as opposed to the catch-and-kill approach.
CCCC focuses on seven pillars of implementation including taking the lead in establishing proper dog-catching techniques to prevent unnecessary suffering, and working with animal rescuers to assist in spaying/neutering and rehoming animals.
Other pillars include promoting responsible pet ownership and providing proper shelter management for local council workers.
CCCC also strives to create community shelters within housing projects, collaborations with communities to allow trap-neuter-return stray animals with acceptable standard operation procedures, as well as encourage commercial enterprises to be responsible and spay/neuter stray animals within or surrounding their commercial compound.
