Humane practices should be incorporated into the new standard procedure, said Kalaivanan Ravichandran, president of a society for the protection of strays, Persatuan Haiwan Terbiar Malaysia
“We want a new procedure that is standardised all over Malaysia because, as you know, each local authority has their own laws in dealing with stray animals,” he told FMT.
He said some local councils still practice cruel ways in handling strays, while others have improved their ways after meetings with animal rights organisations.
Kalaivanan called for a halt to the killing, shooting or poisoning of strays as a way for local councils to deal with the stray population.
“We also totally disagree with strays being put to sleep unless the animal is sick or is suffering in pain with no cure. Only when there is no way to save it, on a veterinary doctor’s advice, should the animal be put to sleep,” he said.
He also called for all animal pounds belonging to local authorities to be turned into temporary holding places for the strays and for NGOs to be given access to spay them and carry out an adoption drive.
“Those that cannot be successfully adopted can perhaps be sent to a shelter or released,” he added.
On Friday, the New Straits Times reported that a former Manjung council member had published several videos showing dogs, some still wearing collars, left trapped in a roughly 1.3-metre-deep hole at a garbage disposal site.
In one of the videos, Khairil Anwar, 48, was heard saying that two of the puppies were still alive when they were “chucked into the hole” with their dead mother.
Kalaivanan said the incidents in the videos were from September 2022, but suspected the same practice is still being done by the local council.
Khairil was also quoted as saying that there was also a new practice by a local council where stray dogs are shot in outskirt areas and then dumped in mass graves.
Rajesh Nagarajan, of Lawyers for Animal Rights, said the police must probe the matter and bring those responsible to book for this act of extreme cruelty.
He said the perpetrators could be charged with animal cruelty, an offence for which the maximum penalty is three years’ jail, a fine between RM20,000 and RM100,000, or both.
Last month, 13 NGOs demanded action by the veterinary services department against municipal officers who kill stray dogs, following the culling of a stray dog named Kopi in Besut, Terengganu.
The NGOs accused municipal officers tasked with managing the stray population of resorting to inhumane practices, including beating the dogs with iron rods and dragging them by the neck.
The department said it will review the memorandum it received from 13 NGOs and that it will also provide updates on its investigation into the incident being carried out under the Animal Welfare Act.