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ANIMAL rights activists are sceptical that the Selangor government and its local councils will refine their laws to effectively address the problem of stray dogs in the state.
Lawyers for Animal Rights founder Rajesh Nagarajan said the mistreatment of stray dogs could only be rectified if each local council in Selangor repealed their by-laws.
"The Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) recently organised a stray dog hunt from April 22 to 24 but has since called it off indefinitely after it courted controversy," Rajesh said.
"But they will not stop the hunting and killing. In Subang Jaya alone, there are 10 to 15 full-time officers who are paid to catch stray dogs. So I don't foresee any positive changes until new laws are put in place.
"The local councils must repeal their own by-laws. Each district in Selangor has a local council, and each local council has a different by-law. These local councils are empowered to kill the dogs," said Rajesh.
MBSA called off the dog hunt after objections from Tengku Permaisuri Selangor Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin, who had expressed sadness and disappointment over the move, disagreeing strongly with the catch-and-kill method.
In a post on the Selangor Royal Office Facebook page, she said: "As Royal Patron of the Stray Free Selangor campaign managed by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, I want local authorities to finetune all new approaches that are more holistic to manage these stray dogs."
Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin also mentioned her prior discussions with SPCA about the welfare of stray dogs and the reduction of their numbers through the Caring and Compassionate Communities campaign.
She suggested humane methods, such as for local authorities, developers and residents to establish shelters for stray animals in every housing estate.
State local government exco Ng Suee Lim responded with the statement that the state government will review its approach to catching stray dogs.
Nothing will change
Rajesh, however, doubts that anything will change despite the call from the Selangor palace.
He said this was not the first time Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin had criticised the method of catching and killing stray dogs.
"I hope I am wrong, I am not optimistic but I do hope I am wrong this time. At the moment, I do feel that there will be no change," said the lawyer.
PAWS Animal Welfare Society manager Lim Choon Sun hoped that the culling exercise had been cancelled instead of merely postponed
He said it would be "belligerent" for the council to proceed with the operation after Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin's comments.
"Why is it not cancelled but only postponed? Also, why is the council resorting to such drastic measures without pursuing alternative methods to control the stray population such as the trap-neuter-return method?
"If a resident’s pet dog wanders from its house, the owner will be powerless to intervene and save it since the council insists that captured dogs cannot be reclaimed and will be put to sleep."
Lim said PAWS had always advocated for more humane methods of managing the stray dog population, such as employing the trap, neuter, return and manage programme and closing down the animal shelters with a kill policy.
He also asked for a grace period to allow owners to reclaim their pets in cases when the dogs were mistaken for strays and captured. – April 6, 2024.
