Council workers must treat strays caught with care and compassion, says NAI - The Star

Oct 8, 2014 By Ivan Loh

THE Ipoh City Council should treat stray animals they catch with more dignity, Noah’s Ark Ipoh (NAI) founder Dr Ranjit Kaur Mendhir said.

Dr Ranjit said while it was good that the city council has stopped shooting stray dogs and were catching them instead, they should be more humane when treating the animals.

“We have seen animals caught kept in a lorry while they continue the exercise from one end of the city to the other.

“The animals are cooped up in stuffy cages in the lorry,” she told journalists during the opening of the World Animal Day public awareness programme by Ipoh Veterinary Research Institute deputy director Dr P. Chandrawathani at the Ipoh Garden South field recently

“There are regulations when slaughtering an animal, so there should be regulations for animals that are captured,” she added.

Dr Ranjit also stressed on the need for a dog pound where stray animals can be given temporary shelter and food.

“Even if an animal is to be put down, it must be done with dignity.

“Stray animals should not be released in areas where they cannot find food either,” she said, adding that it was a cruel act.

“If they cannot find food, they become scared and aggressive,” she added.

Dr Ranjit also said NAI rescues an average of 50 animals a month.

“We have also saved kittens, with their eyes still not open and smaller in size than our palm, found unwanted and dumped at our clinics,” she said.

“We try to nurse these animals, spay and neuter them before finding them a home,” she added.

NAI secretary Malika Ramiah Oates said creating awareness among the public on stray animals was important.

“I recently came back from Cape Town, South Africa and did not see stray animals there.

“If they can do that, I wonder why we can’t?” she asked.

“There are still many stray animals around because many people are uncaring,” she said.

“In Gunung Rapat alone, we have received reports that there are at least 250 animals in the area,” she added.

Malika said she hopes to raise between RM25,000 and RM30,000 from the event.

“The money will be used primarily for neutering and spaying stray animals and in animal rescuing efforts.

“We need a minimum of RM5,000 every month to conduct our activities and programmes and our funds are from generous donors,” she said.

“The money raised will also be used for education and awareness programmes in our effort to reduce the stray population in Ipoh,” she added.

At the event, stalls selling a range of foodstuff, clothing and ornaments were set up to raise funds for NAI.

Visitors at the event, together with their pets, also mingled while getting information about controlling the stray population in the city.

Catch, kill and get paid - The Star

Oct 4, 2013 By Victoria Brown

CATCH, kill, and get paid… That is pretty much the job description of private dog catchers in Malaysia.

According to my sources, private dog catchers are hired by local councils to catch and kill stray dogs and cats. They will be paid a sum for every stray dog or cat they catch, and the local council will entrust them with the responsibility to kill and dispose of the animal.

Of course nobody really knows what happens to the animal after they’re caught by dog catcher. The speculation by animal NGOs runs wild - are their necks broken, are they drowned, buried alive, administered lethal injections by untrained professionals? These questions still remained unanswered by Malaysian authorities.

Lately, the issue of dog catching in Malaysia has become somewhat of a hot topic. Especially after Malaysia Independent Animal Rescue’s (MIAR) video on MPKJ dog catcher’s cruel treatment towards the strays in the area.

The video has reached over 100,000 views since it was uploaded almost two weeks ago. (Video here: http://youtu.be/2eN_zLzSw0U)

MIAR’s president T. Puspa Rani said that she and her colleagues tried to save the dogs that were caught by the dog catchers.

However, their efforts to rescue the dogs were in vain due to a tiff that broke out between the MIAR members and MPKJ dog catchers.

“They blamed us for obstructing their duty, this implied to us that if they worked for the government they were above the law, which they aren’t,” said Rani.

Rani says that dogs are brutally caught and killed everyday by our local councils.

“Some councils do not provide proper shelter, food or water for their dogs as protocol requires them to. These dogs are kept for a period of seven days in this deplorable condition causing them to resort to killing each other out of starvation,” said Rani.

“Why kill these innocent lives? Why not spay or neuter them instead,” questions Rani.

“Dogs have been killed like this for years but that has not solved the stray problem in Malaysia,” said Rani.

I also spoke to the general manager of Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better (MDDB) Derene Lee about this issue, and she believes that stray management has been given commercial value by local councils.

“This is a very dangerous trend, especially since private dog catching companies are paid based on the number of dogs they catch,” said Lee.

“There have been many instances whereby pet owners have alleged that their pets were taken away by these private dog catching companies,” she said.

Lee said that these dog catching companies get these contracts with local councils through open tender for pest control work.

This means that these dogs are classified as pests and comes under the local council’s health department vector division, which is the department responsible for killing pests like mosquitoes and rats.

Imagine having dogs and cats, who some consider family, put in the same category as rats and mosquitoes. I find that piece of information a little hard to swallow, our dogs and cats are not pests who need to be exterminated!

Wong Ee Lynn, a senior SPCA volunteer, explains just how cruel the methods used to catch dogs in Malaysia are.

“From what I have observed, the most common method of catching roaming dogs in Malaysia is by using poles and rope nooses. This is impractical and cruel as it often causes severe neck and spinal injury and even death in dogs,” she said.

“Another method is by shooting. This is terrifying both to the animals and people in the vicinity,” said Wong.

“Dogs are often maimed or injured by the pellets, and even if the shooter is an expert marksman, it cannot be denied that accidents may occur, causing injury to non-target dogs, cats and other animals,” she added.

Wong said that dog catchers also use large nets on hoops and also more humane traps using food as bait.

She believes that catching and killing strays (which is what the local councils are doing right now) is not the answer. The ‘catch and release’ method is a far more effective solution to control the stray population.

“Stray and roaming dogs and cats should be trapped, neutered/spayed by veterinarians, allowed time for recovery and then released in the same place. This is the only humane and proper way to manage stray populations,” said Wong.

“Based on my experience, when roaming cats and dogs are forcibly removed and destroyed from a particular area, this enables other stray cats and dogs to move in and breed, so the cycle of cat and dog overpopulation continues,” she said.

That is why she believes that capturing and neutering stray cats and dogs and returning them to their former territory is a wiser option.

“This way, the number of roaming animals is kept stable. New cats and dogs will not move into an area where other cats and dogs have already established themselves,” said Wong.

Dr Ranjit Mendhir, who is a vet by profession and founder of Noah’s Ark Ipoh agrees that the ‘catch and release’ program is the right way to go.

“I don’t think culling is the solution to ending the stray dog population. Neutering dogs are the answer, nip it in the bud,” said Ranjit.

“Culling is a waste of public funds. And these private dog catchers even recycle the dogs. They will show the same batch of dogs to different councils to get paid,” she said.

Rather than going out there to catch and kill strays, Ranjit feels that the government should instead make it compulsory for pet owners to neuter their pets.

“They can do this by implementing a licensing fee for breeders who refuse to spay their pets,” said Ranjit.

She adds that educating the public on the importance of neutering pets is also essential.

I can’t understand why the government and local councils will not listen and work together with the animal NGOs.

I believe that managing the stray population will be much more effective in the long term if Malaysia implements the ‘catch and release’ program. Not to mention that it will be a more humane and cost effective (in the long term) solution.

What do you think? Do you think that culling strays is the answer to controlling the stray population? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Animal shelter aims to have the breeding of strays under control - The Star

WHEN homemaker Tho Yit Ngor rescued a pregnant stray dog wandering outside her house three years ago, little did she know that she would be the owner of three generations of white mongrels.

“The dog was wandering outside my house for days with a bulging belly and it looked like it was in pain as it was about to give birth.

“I decided to bring it into my house compound so that it could give birth safely,” said the 48-year-old.

Months after the dog Tho rescued had given birth to a female puppy, the puppy ran out of the house when the gate was left opened.

“I was worried that I lost the puppy for good, but soon after, it found its way home.

“I did not know that it became pregnant as well after that little adventure until a few months after.

“The puppy gave birth to a female and I decided that it is time I brought them to be spayed because I do not have the capability to care for more than three dogs should the incident repeat itself,” she said, adding that both of her children were all grown up and working outstation.

She said that despite having to keep three dogs, she was reluctant to give them up because she had grown very fond of all of them.

Accompanied by her husband Bok Pin Chiang, 55, Tho was among the many good Samaritans who were present at the Track, Neuter, Release (TNR) programme organised by the Ipoh Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA) held at Dewan Orang Ramai Gunung Rapat recently.

Fellow pet owner Wong Foong Chew saved seven stray puppies who were roaming the streets in Tanjung Rambutan recently.

“I gave four of them away and now I am keeping two females and one male.

“Caring for them is like caring for children, it is very tiring and expensive.

“So I have decided to bring them here to prevent my pets from giving birth to more puppies,” she said, adding that she was currently spending around RM400 a month on her mongrel puppies.

At the programme, ISPCA president Ricky Soong advised those who wish to rescue and keep stray animals to spay or neuter them.

“This step is vital to control the population of strays in the city to prevent them from causing problems for the society.

“The overpopulation of stray animals, especially dogs, would cause problems such as garbage bags lying open on the road, someone getting bitten or the spreading of fleas and diseases.

“By having them spayed or neutered, they can still continue living on the streets without facing threats of being shot or dumped at the city’s outskirts,” he said.

Soong said many dogs and cats are able to get pregnant when they are only six months old.

“Just imagine, if these 25 animals here at the programme were to reproduce on the streets, there would be more than 200 of them added to the stray population within half a year.

“And after a year, this number can quickly grow to more than 2,000.

“Thus, I strongly encourage people who feed strays to go the extra mile of having them neutered,” he said.

Soong added that the TNR approach has been long adopted by Germany, but it took them around 40 years to successfully reduce the stray population in their country by 90%.

“Today’s effort is only the very first step for Ipoh and I hope that the Ipoh City Council will soon agree to adopt this method for the betterment of the stray population in the city,” he said.

On the overcrowding of animals at the shelter, Soong said the number of cats and dogs has been reduced from 280 and 220 respectively within the last eight months.

“This is because some of the dogs died of old age, while some have been adopted.

“Even so, we are still at our limit of taking in more animals and we are now aiming to educate people on the importance of spaying and neutering them instead,” he said.

Also present was the Malaysian Kennel Association Perak branch president Lau Yit Meng, who advised pet lovers not to buy pedigree breeds on impulse.

“We have had cases where pet owners could not afford their pets’ medical expenses, so they chose to abandon them on the streets.

“ISPCA has even rescued a few Siberian Huskies on the streets before and the diseases they had would result in treatment costs of more than RM1,000.

“Keeping a pet is a long-term responsibility and one should ensure that they are financially and physically capable before getting a pet,” he said.

The TNR programme saw to the spaying and neutering of 21 dogs and four cats, all of which were brought in by their respective owners.

The owners were only charged half price for each pet, which was RM50, as the remaining costs were subsidised by ISPCA.

Dogs Tortured To Death - Ipoh Echo

Cruelty to animals is a bane of our society. We often hear and see dogs and cats being flayed for no apparent reasons other than them being a “nuisance”. How bad could these animals be? They, just like us, are on Mother Earth for a reason. It is so heart-wrenching to see man’s best friends being beaten and mistreated.

Ipoh Echo received an email from a concerned Ipohite recently about two dogs being tortured to death. The incidents took place in Buntong and Tasek. We contacted Elaine, an animal activist, who was present at the scene where one of the dogs was beaten to death with a wooden stick.

According to Elaine, she and a friend were travelling around the industrial area of Tasek when they came across three puppies in front of a factory. They decided to take them to an animal shelter. 

“We came back the following day to look for the puppies but found that one was missing. After a brief search, we found it near a dead male dog. The puppy looked frightened. When we approached it, it kept on howling and yelping,” she said.

The dead dog was lying on its side with a stick beside it. Before leaving the scene, she took a few pictures and informed City Council of her finding. “I am shocked and angry at whoever was responsible for this barbaric act. Why take it out on an innocent animal? Don’t they have feelings?” she lamented.

The other case took place in Buntong where a canine was similarly killed for no rhyme or reason. The poor dog was splashed with acid and had suffered an agonising death.

Ipoh Echo urge members of the public to report to Ricky from the Ipoh Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA) at 016 550 6915 or to Dr Ranjit of Noah’s Ark at 019 556 8292 should they come across animal-abuse cases in their neighbourhood.