Lawyers for Animal Rights spokesman Rajesh Nagarajan said this would resolve the country’s growing population of stray dogs.

“They should go one step further, Catch all the stray dogs and neuter them as well,” he told FMT.

Last week, Negeri Sembilan menteri besar Aminuddin Harun said the new condition was a preventive measure, as many areas in the state were now struggling with a growing number of strays.

Aminuddin added that the new requirement would encourage owners to be more responsible as people tend to abandon puppies after they realise they do not have the resources to raise so many of them at once.

Nagarajan said the rule should be applied to cat owners as well because most stray animals suffer horrible fates and die prematurely.

“A normal dog or cat’s lifespan can be anything from 10 to 15 years, but a stray dog will be lucky to live for five years,” he said.

Selangor SPCA general manager Kelvin Cheah lauded Negeri Sembilan’s requirement that all dogs be neutered, saying it is a more humane and cost-effective way to control the stray population than the “capture-and-kill” method.

“From our experience, stray population control through the capture-and-kill method is very expensive and inhumane, not to mention highly ineffective as well.

“With over 30 years of stray catching, we should have wiped out the strays by now, but in reality, we are not even close,” he said.

Selangor SPCA is not the only NGO in the state advocating neutering as a preventive measure to combat the growing stray population.

A study by the Malaysian Animal Welfare Association (Mawa) found that if the neuter model is adopted, the number of strays in Selangor will progressively decline and possibly even lead to a stray-free state.

Mawa said a stray dog is capable of producing up to seven puppies each year. If the trap-neuter-release method is not used, the state’s stray dog population is likely to hit 67,000 by 2027.