Following rally, animal rights groups to meet ministry soon

Summary

• Global Human Rights Federation president S Shashi Kumar says an official from the Housing and Local Government Ministry has contacted him in regard to the issue of dealing with stray animals.

• This comes after a coalition of animal rights NGOs staged a rally outside the Parliament yesterday.

• Shashi accuses local councils of making a business out of catching strays, to the detriment of rescuers and animal shelters.

Activist S Shashi Kumar said a Housing and Local Government Ministry official has extended an invitation to discuss the handling of stray animals.

This was after animal rights NGOs protested outside Parliament yesterday, demanding amendments to the Animal Welfare Act and improvements for dealing with strays.

“The minister’s private secretary Lee Chin Loke reached out to me.

“Upon discussions, he gave me three dates for us to meet up in Putrajaya,” said the Global Human Rights Federation (GHRF) president to Malaysiakini today.

Yesterday’s rally was attended by about 100 people and saw the group handing a memorandum to Kampar MP Chong Zhemin.

According to Free Malaysia Today, Shashi yesterday said the government had taken no action after GHRF handed a memorandum to 10 MPs at a similar rally in November 2024.

He also accused the Veterinary Services Department of failing to protect stray animals and demanded the establishment of an independent body to enforce the Animal Welfare Act.

“We have proposed to reduce the population of stray animals via the trap, neuter, vaccine and release method.

“Instead, the government has taken the easy way out by killing, shooting, and poisoning stray animals,” he said.

Negative perception of dogs

Elaborating, Shashi claimed there is a prevailing negative mindset when it comes to strays and how to handle them.

He added that the matter was made worse when such a mindset is being inculcated among students.

To prove his point, Shashi pointed to a Bahasa Malaysia SPM workbook where students were told to write a letter to local councils and urge the authorities to act and eradicate stray dogs.

“Basically, they are teaching our students that dogs are terrible and a nuisance.

“My question is, why not ask the students to write letters to the authorities to detain the corrupt, those indulging in gangsterism, or people involved in drugs?

“Based on the question in the workbook, it seems they are just creating a perception that dogs are terrible creatures. That’s not right,” he stressed.

Struggling shelters, rescuers

Shashi reminded the government that animal shelters and rescuers use their own funds or donations from the public.

In addition to financial constraints, he pointed out that local councils do not offer to help them.

“These local councils go around catching strays but when rescuers try to get the strays from them, they charge between RM200 and RM250 on us to get one dog out.

“And they know rescuers will do their best to fork out the money. It’s become a business to them (local councils),” he lamented.

He opined that the problem was due to the government’s priorities.

“The government keeps saying they lack funds for programmes such as trap, neuter, and release - which involves dealing with a local problem.

“But somehow, they have funds to send to foreign countries,” Shashi added.

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