At a press gathering in George Town today, animal rights activist Barbara Jensen fainted and fell from her chair while making an emotional appeal to the Penang government to stop "killing" stray dogs.

She was held up by others and after recovering, Janssen knelt down on the floor and "kowtow" to beg the state government to stop killing the dogs.

Those who witnessed the incident were seen wiping off their tears.

Jensen is the founder of the Penang Animal Welfare Society (4PAWS), which led the campaign since Friday to ‘vaccinate, not kill’ stray dogs to stop a rabies outbreak in the state.

"I am willing to exchange my life to keep them alive.

"I'm not afraid of the authority but I worried of what I'm going to do when they come after them (the dogs)," she added.

Jensen lamented that she felt exhausted managing the issue, and was only able to sleep about six hours a day since Lim made the announcement to cull the dogs.

Jensen has been living in Penang for about 10 years under the Malaysia Second Home programme.

"I have very great affection and deep feeling towards Penang and also the animals here.

"In Germany, there are laws that protect animals while here, they are treated as enemies," she added.

'Culling can be counter-productive'

Accompanying her at the press conference are ‘STOP The Killing’ Facebook page co-founder Lim Li Lian and Save Our Strays (SOS) founder April Sham, with about 40 others.

Lim, a certified Global Rabies Educator, said her group felt that a more comprehensive programme was necessary to deal with the rabies outbreak as mass culling is not the only nor the best approach.

"Public health and safety from rabies infection is our number one mission but the culling measure is palliative and may also be counter-productive."

"Even WHO claims that dog destruction alone is not effective in rabies control; there is no evidence that removal of dogs alone has ever had a significant impact on dog population densities or those that spread rabies.

"Mass canine vacination campaigns has been the most effective measure for controlling canine rabies. It is not only about saving the animals but (also) human beings," Lim ( photo ) stressed.

Lim said mass culling of dogs can exacerbate and speed up the spread of rabies as killing of dog populations encourages the movement of dogs and increases the risk of it spreading.

Mass culling may look easy but in reality, it will not kill all warm-blooded animals - for instance, monkey, rat and bat - which can also spread the disease, she added.

Sham from SOS said they have always been proud of Penang and the administration of the Chief Minister, but they hope it will reconsider the measure.

"WVS has enough vaccines for all Penang strays. The international body is willing to sponsor the cost of all these vaccines, together with an expert team flying down to Penang with hands-on work," said Sham.

The group hoped the state government, department of veterinary services, and Putrajaya can offer them an official endorsement to accept the assistance offered by World Veterinary Service's Mission Rabies programme.

They said Mission Rabies programme administred can help to conduct mass vaccination programme of strays to develop herd immunity.