KUANTAN: Police have classified the case of an elderly man who died during an operation to catch stray dogs in Taman Saga, Bentong, last Wednesday as a sudden death.
A postmortem carried out at the Bentong Hospital revealed that 85-year-old Law Sei Kiew (pic) died from “respiratory arrest secondary to acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease”, said Bentong district police chief Supt Zaiham Mohd Kahar.
He told Bernama that two police reports were filed on the day of the incident, one by a 55-year-old Bentong Municipal Council (MPB) officer, and one by the victim’s 53-year-old daughter, who said her father had collapsed and passed out in front of their house.
According to Zaiham, the police recorded statements from the MPB officer, the victim’s daughter, and several witnesses to the incident.
“The public is advised not to speculate about the incident, make inappropriate comments on social media, or raise racial issues,” he said in a statement on Friday night.
Zaiham urged anyone who witnessed the incident to contact the operations room of the Bentong district police headquarters at 09-222 2222 or the nearest police station to assist in investigating the incident.
Earlier, the Pahang Local Government, Housing, Environment and Green Technology Committee chairman Datuk Seri Johari Harun asked the public to wait for the outcome of the police investigation, while adding that the MPB was giving its full cooperation to the authorities.
He said that the operation carried out by the Wild and Abandoned Animal Unit, Department of Public Health and Municipal Services, which also involved four MPB-appointed contractors, complied with the standard operating procedure.
The death of the octogenarian following a struggle with dog catchers has sparked outrage among Malaysians.
Animal rights activist and rescuer Joanne Low said the incident, which saw Law grappling with the group of workers, should not have happened at all.
“If at all Mr Law was found to have broken local council by-laws about dog ownership, he should have been compounded.
“There was no need to have a tug-of-war with him to forcibly remove his dog,’’ she said.
Low called on MPB to initiate action against its personnel involved in the struggle with Law on Wednesday.
Law is said to have collapsed and died after the MPB team caught his dog, which, according to a neighbour, he had grown attached to since it was a puppy.
People’s Legal Team founder Dinesh Muthal agreed that the local council’s dog catchers should only be allowed to compound and not get physical with members of the public.
Dinesh urged the authorities to immediately prohibit dog catchers from being rough with animal lovers, owners, and rescuers.
In the incident that happened at 5pm on Wednesday, the MPB team had caught the mixed breed dog, which was standing at Law’s gate, with a noose on the end of a long pole.
Law is believed to have held on to the pole to resist the catchers when he collapsed, fell into a drain, and died.
MPB’s Public Health Department head Norizam Saad said the council has made a police report on the matter but declined to elaborate, saying he was attending a course and had not received full information about the incident.
