Lawyer shares shocking images of injured dogs, demands probe

Summary

• A lawyer urges the authorities to investigate alleged attacks on dogs at a public university in Gombak, Selangor.

• Rajesh Nagarajan tells Malaysiakini the university must punish students who threw fireworks at stray dogs.

• Dog rescuer Shima Aris says she rescued 20 dogs since Nov 3, crowdfunding RM26,605.20 for their treatment.

Haunting photographs of dogs allegedly injured at a public university in Gombak, Selangor were unveiled at a press conference this morning, where a lawyer urged authorities to investigate acts of cruelty against animals.

The photographs depicted several dogs with sickening injuries, most of them sporting gaping tracts of exposed red flesh over the head and neck.

Some of the images were so graphic that Malaysiakini chose not to reproduce them.

The lawyer, Rajesh Nagarajan called for the university to punish the students responsible.

In a statement to Malaysiakini, he said the Veterinary Services Department must take the appropriate legal action as per Section 29 of the Animal Welfare Act 2015 against those who harmed the dogs.

“It is shocking that students from a local public university would be so heartless as to throw fireworks at dogs to deter the said dogs from their campus.

“The said dogs have suffered very bad burn injuries as stated by the veterinary doctor who treated all the dogs,” he said.

The dogs were discovered by Shima Aris, a 44-year-old fitness instructor.

She came across a Facebook post which detailed how an injured dog was wandering around the campus with a chunk of its head missing.

“It started with this post. When I rescued her (the first dog), we didn’t know how she got injured.

“And then came another dog. Same wound. Same campus. So I dug more and asked around.

“And we found out the student union and their campus security have been using fireworks to deter the stray dogs,” Shima told Malaysiakini.

She said the first rescue occured on Nov 3 and she has rescued 20 dogs from the same campus so far.

About RM26,605.20 has been spent on the dogs’ treatment as of March 14, she said.

Shima explained that she managed to raise the money through crowdfunding.

After the dogs are treated, they are sent to foster homes or a paid boarding house, she added.

Malaysiakini has contacted the student union for their response.

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