JOHOR BARU: The Johor Baru City Council (MBJB) has refuted allegations that its dog pound in Larkin was overcrowded and the dogs kept there were neglected.
Mayor Datuk Mohd Noorazam Osman (pic) also stressed that the council did not set any target for daily stray dog capture.
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“Catching dogs is not our core business. We act based on complaints we get from the public,” he said, adding that as of September this year, they had received 479 complaints regarding strays.
The figures for the whole of 2022 and 2023 were 703 and 627, respectively.
“In some cases, one call could involve at least 20 stray dogs.
“We’ve cases of people being bitten, including children being mauled by stray dogs.
“Even my own MBJB staff have been bitten while on duty,” he said.
The mayor blamed irresponsible developers and factories that breed dogs to guard their premises, adding that once the project was done, they just left the dogs behind.
On allegations about the pound being overcrowded and lacked facilities, he said he was aware of the need to upgrade the Larkin pound and had already approved a RM6mil budget for a new one since last year.
“’When I took over as mayor in 2021, I visited this pound and felt that we needed to build a new one as this old one was developed at a cost of RM300,000 five years ago, and did not have adequate facilities,” he said in an interview.
“The new one will not just house dogs and cats, but other animals such as cows, goats and even birds.”
He stressed that he had directed for the pound’s operating procedures to be improved and also to keep a close watch on the job done by private contractors.
“MBJB is engaging local NGOs to find a long-term solution to the stray dog problem.
“Some things may not be perfect, but what we are doing is in accordance to the guidelines set by the Housing and Local Government Ministry,” he said, adding that they too were concerned about animal welfare.
“At present, all dogs caught are kept for seven days in the pound to allow for adoption before they are put to sleep via lethal injection.
“From January to August this year, we have caught 1,166 stray dogs.
“To date, we only have seen 536 valid dog tags,” he said, adding that all the strays at the MBJB pound were fed at least twice a day.
Noorazam also urged NGOs to help by taking away the dogs from the pound.
“We have given 183 dogs to three different groups this year,” he said, adding that for the long term, they had identified a 1.6ha site in Seelong, which can be rented and fenced up to be used for a trap, neuter and release (TNR) programme.
Under the plan, four councils – MBJB, Pasir Gudang, Kulai and Iskandar Puteri – will send the dogs caught to this place for NGOs to carry out TNR.
