Not forgetting that Yuletide is the season to exchange gifts with family and friends.
For animal lovers, many would have decided to get a kitten or puppy as a gift, hoping the furry friends would bring happiness to their loved ones.
However, animal groups are dead against this trend of “buying” a furry buddy, often online, saying it is wrong and inhuman.
PAWS Animal Welfare Society shelter manager Edward Lim said he did not agree that pet owners should sell their animals online.
“When people look at the pictures of kittens and puppies, they might see the animals are cute.
“But they cannot ‘feel’ the animals’ character and of course cannot develop a bond with them,” he told FMT.
Lim said it was wrong for people to purchase an animal online as a gift and have it “delivered” to the potential owner.
“You are buying a creature, not a handbag. What if the potential owner does not like the pet?” he asked, adding this would create more problems to the pet as the owner might neglect or abandon it.
He also said as an animal centre shelter manager, he insisted that the potential owner of the dog or cat come to PAWS’ shelter here to pick his or her pet of choice.
“A man came to PAWS a few years ago and said he wanted to adopt a puppy as a present for his girlfriend. But I did not agree to that and told him to bring his girlfriend to our Subang shelter.
“There’s no point in anyone coming to adopt a dog for another person if that person is not going to be happy with it,” Lim said.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better (MDDB) founder Wani Muthiah said online pet selling was not new and sellers are secretive about revealing to potential owners the pets’ background.
“The sellers or ‘backyard breeders’ will only meet you at a public place and never let the buyers come over to their breeding place.”
She added Malaysia had no laws to supervise such “backyard breeders”.
Wani tells people not to buy puppies or kittens as gifts during this festive season.
“Adopt instead of buying. Many ‘backyard breeders’ take advantage when people opt to buy,” she said.
“A law like the one recently introduced in the United Kingdom is what we need here to encourage ethical breeding,” she said.
British Prime Minister Theresa May had announced last week that those selling animals must show their buyers the puppies and their mothers. This is to stop people from buying pets online without seeing them.
The premier, who is a dog lover, wants families to enjoy the arrival of a “happy, healthy” puppy that has not been mistreated.
UK animal groups said the new law would be able to curb a “‘despicable” multi-million pound illegal trade”.
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/leisure/2014/01/28/can-you-afford-a-pet/