KLANG: A dog hunt scheduled to take place on April 22, 23 and 24 by the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) is drawing a lot of flak from dog lovers and the public.
According to the plan, residents’ association members from the targeted areas would work as volunteers with MBSA to hunt down and capture the dogs with loops, traps, and tranquiliser darts.
An estimated 500 dogs have been targeted for capture during the three-day hunt from 8.00pm to 11.00pm and according to an MBSA circular, all the dogs will be euthanised and cannot be “bailed out”.
There was also a RM30 payment for every dog caught by the volunteer dog hunters.
The targeted areas are Setia Utama 1, Alam Nusantara, Setia Eco Park, Suria Hill, Setia Prima, Setia Taipan and the Setia Prima and Setia Indian commercial centres.
The founder of AnimalCare Society, Dr Chan Kah Yein, urged MBSA to reconsider the plan.
“Please allow owners time to reclaim their pets as some could be lost pets.
“As for the street dogs, please consider TNRM (trap-neuter-release-manage) instead,’’ said Dr Chan.
Animal lover and rescuer Mandy Chee said it was foul that the council was rewarding the public RM30 for every dog caught.
“Rewarding people for such cruel acts is encouraging the public to be intolerant towards the strays.
“Catching and killing will never be the way to go forward,’’ said Chee.
Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better’s (MDDB) Kavitah Ganasan said the overpopulation of dogs stems from the relevant authorities refusing to acknowledge that the catch-and-kill method is not working.
“If the current method were effective, There would not be a population boom in the number of street dogs.
“It is wasteful spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayers money on something that is not working,’’ said Kavitah.
She added the authorities should give TNRM a try instead of continuing to waste taxpayers' money.
Kavitah said the authorities must also remove the ban on on-site neutering, as this will enable rescue groups to go to the ground and spay street dogs.
“The Berjaya Foundation had also given Paws Animal Welfare Society a mobile veterinary clinic for this purpose, but due to this uncalled-for restriction, it is now sitting on their premises and turning into junk," said Kavitah.
Kavitah also believed that involving members of the residents’ association in the hunt would be akin to giving them the green light to brutalise street animals.
Following the public outburst, MBSA issued a statement saying that the dogs caught would all be sent to Paws; however, the animal welfare society has urged the council to trap, neuter, and release the dogs in the targeted areas instead.
Paws manager Lim Choon Sun has also been quoted by the media urging MBSA not to kill the dogs that would be caught in the operation.
Meanwhile, when contacted, Selangor exco in charge of local councils, Datuk Ng Suee Lim, said he was confident that all the local councils in the state would be cautious in initiating any action against street animals, especially dogs.
“In dealing with complaints from the general public on street animals, catching them cannot be avoided.
“But the best interest of these cats and dogs must also be taken care of under the Selangor state government’s stance of being inclusive, progressive and civilised,’’ added Ng.
