WHAT MALAYSIANS SAY

Tied up: This dog cannot run around because it is tied to the gate. This picture was taken at a residential area in Kuala Lumpur.

Publication Date: 02.10.2006
Shock school shooting
I AM a Form Five student in an Ipoh school. On Thursday, a disgusting show of inhumanity was seen in my school. It highlighted the depravity of humans.

For some time, a dog had been sleeping behind the school toilet. By nature, this dog was loving and showed no aggressive behaviour.

It was generally well-liked by the students and was easily ignored as all it did was sleep. It never approached anyone unless they first approached it.

On that day, the Majlis Bandaraya Ipoh (MBI) (City Hall) came into the school grounds and shot the dog in its abdomen in front of our chemistry lab. It upset the girls deeply as the dog did not die immediately and wailed as it bled to death.

The MBI did not shoot it a second time, instead they allowed it to die slowly. Then they carried it off by a hook when it was not completely dead as if it were a carcass at the meat market. The MBI men also waved jovially in the midst of all this as if they had not done something completely barbaric.

Mahatma Gandhi said, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”.

I think the general way animals are treated here is appalling. Countries like Australia, New Zealand and England do not shoot dogs as we do yet I never saw a single stray on the street when I was there.

This tells me there is something wrong with our system and the general mind-set of the average Malaysian.

DISGUSTED Ipoh

Publication Date: 07.11.2006

Stop the senseless slaughter of strays

YEARS ago I heard of a law that banned people from using guns to kill stray animals like dogs and cats. There were even guidelines for government bodies to tackle these matters.

Early this year, a dog gave birth to a litter of two pups which grew up as playful little creatures. They were strays, but were never a nuisance. The presence of one particularly active and playful pup really brought cheer to my family especially to my younger cousins and siblings.

Alas, one family living in the area complained about the presence of these dogs and the authorities sent some people to gun them down.

Although I was in school, the news reached my ears when my younger brother, who has just finished PMR, happened to be at home and witnessed the killings.

My mother said she saw blood trails all along the ground on her way to work.


Worse still, another dog that had a litter of three pups was gunned down and her offspring were not spared a similar fate.

What is it with these heartless dog shooters? They even killed puppies because one family complained.

Years ago when a group of stray dogs really did cause a nuisance, we complained but nothing was done. Now two poor, harmless dogs and their pups were gunned down simply for being playful.

Is there justice or even human kindness towards animals anymore?

I think the authorities should investigate this indiscriminate killing of strays.


There's been an uproar about it in Ipoh already and we don’t want it to happen in Malacca.

There is certainly a better way to tackle this problem, like sending these dogs to the SPCA instead of killing them.
audesxerxes
Publication Date: 17.11.2006

Present laws inadequate in protecting animals

EARLY Wednesday morning I heard the agonising yelps of a dog in pain.

I tried to ignore it at first but upon checking, I was shocked to see a man holding an iron bar and hitting two dogs which he had tied up.

I asked him to stop but he continued beating them till one of them died.

The other dog could not stand up and was in pain. When I questioned his cruel act, he said the dogs were disturbing his things.

I felt so helpless that I could not do anything for the animals.

If I report it and am willing to bear the wrath of the man's anger, what are the chances that he will be heavily penalised?

Our present laws are so inadequate in protecting these helpless animals which deserve to live as we do.

I called the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals but was told it could not do anything and that I should call the law enforcement.

I am reluctant to take that step because all the trouble would be for nothing when he gets only fined RM100.

ORDINARY CITIZEN, Malacca.