MEMORANDUM AND PETITION HANDED OVER

MEMORANDUM HANDED OVER TO SELAYANG COUNCIL
11 SEPT, 2007

The Selayang Municipal Council recently launched a barbaric dog catching competition, where lucrative prize money( 1st Prize RM15,000; 2nd Prize RM13,000 and 3rd Prize RM11,000) is being offered to individuals or groups of individuals that can catch the most number of stray dogs every 6 months. The minimum catch to qualify for these top prizes is 150 dogs. In addition to that, the council will also pay individuals RM20 for each dog brought in on an ongoing basis.

This horrific competition has caused an uproar among animal rights groups such as the SPCA, ROAR, PETPOSITIVE, MARPO etc. The general public, in particular animal lovers have vehemently opposed the competition but the MPS has stood its ground and insisted that it will carry on with the competition. See The Star, 7 Sept 2007 - MPS Bent on Catching Stray Dogs for details.

Animal lovers from across the country have united and signed an online petition that commenced on Thurs, 6 Sept 2007. As at 9pm on Monday, 10 Sept 2007, a grand total of 1575 signatures were collected online, and this number is growing. Animal lovers within the Klang Valley also gathered at the Central Park, Bandar Utama on Sunday, 9 Sept 2007 for a peaceful protest against the dog catching competition. 585 signatures were collected on the day. This brought the total collected to 2160 signatures.

Animal rights groups, SPCA, ROAR, PETPOSITIVE, MARPO etc, and a coalition of individual animal lovers gathered at the MPS this morning to hand over a Memorandum and the signatures collected from both the online petition and from the peaceful protest, despite a warning from Datuk Tang See Hang (see The StarMetro 10, Sept 2007 - Groups told not to Protest) that he will not meet with animal rights groups on Thursday if we were gather at the Council’s premises today. His warnings were not heeded as there was in fact no scheduled meeting between himself and the groups concerned.

YDP, Tn. Zainal Abidin Bin Azim;

Deputy YDP, Tn Hj. Jamri bin Hasni;

En Hairuddin Daud, Pengarah Jabatan Kesihatan & Perkhidmatan Bandar

It was interesting to note, that the YDP, Tn. Zainal Abidin Bin Azim, was conveniently on leave, although his car was parked in the porch. His Deputy, Tn Hj. Jamri bin Hasni was also missing in action. They sent a PR Officer, a Ms Helda, down to meet us. We were quite amused that there was over 20 security personnel manning the lobby of the Council, and Ms Helda was also escorted by 2 burly security personnel.

Surendran, President of ROAR, informed Ms Helda that we would only hand over the memorandum and the signatures from the petition to the YDP or his Deputy.

After a fashion, they sent another personnel down(also escorted), apparently an Administration Assistant with instructions from the YDP that the Memorandum and the Signatures be handed over to the PR Officer. Hmmm how interesting... this Admin Assistant is not wearing his name tag. Aren't all government servants supposed to have their identification tags on when they are at work? Hmmm...

Surendran then requested that at least the Pegarah of the Jabatan Kesihatan & Perkhidmatan Perbandaran, En Hairuddin Daud be present as this whole dog catching competition is under the direction of his department. He too refused to meet us although we were informed that he was in the building.

The Administration Officer - above, who refused to provide us with a name, insisted that the instructions were for us to submit our memorandum and petition to the PR Officer. We subsequently did, after making it known to the Council that we were doing so under protest.

The PR Officer, Ms Helda

Christine Chin, chairperson of the SPCA handed over the Memorandum to the PR officer, after reading it out to all that were present. Details of the Memorandum are at the end of this post.

Subsequently, I, Natasha Fernz, handed over the 2,160 signatures collected, also after reading the contents of the petition to all that were present. Details of the petition are at the end of this post.

At the press conference following the submission, comments were given by all the parties that were present, SPCA, PETPOSITIVE, ROAR, MARPO and the spokesperson for the Coalition of Animal Lovers, yours truly – urging the council to put an end to this inhumane dog catching competition. We also provided the council with alternative campaigns such as Spay & Neuter Campaigns, Responsible Pet Ownership Campaigns etc.

We sincerely hope that the Selayang Council will hear our pleas and put a stop to this madness immediately because this dog catching competition will not curb the stray dog population.

I would like to quote Tn. Zainal Abidin Bin Azim (the YDP of MPS) - "In fact we have our own squad going round to catch the strays but they have not been successful"

The council catches over 200 stray dogs per month and yet they are unable to curb the stray population. So this is why I find it quite ludicrous that the council has launched the competition when they know for a fact that by merely catching the stray dogs, the problem will not go away.

The Council has also indicated that the dogs that are caught will be kept in the kennel for a maximum of two weeks. The Council did not indicate if proper care will be given to the dogs while in the kennels, nor did it indicate that the dogs will be put down humanely.

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MEMORANDUM TO THE PRESIDENT OF MAJLIS PERBANDARAN SELAYANG

(a summary)

from

• Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA)
• PETPOSITIVE
• Malaysian Association for Responsible Pet Ownership
• Malaysian Animal Rights and Welfare Organisation (ROAR)

We are calling for

1. An immediate end to the dog cathing competition
2. Implementation of highly effective spay/neuter initiatives
3. Fines against irresponsible pet owners that dump and abandon their pets
4. Implementation of smart, humane and effective LEGISLATION to promote Responsible Pet Ownership
5. EDUCATION and publicity campaigns to promote Responsible Pet Ownership (RPO)

Yours sincerely

Christine Chin, Chairperson - Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA Selangor)

N Surendran, President - Malaysian Animal Rights and Welfare Association

Anthony Thanasayan, President - PetPositive

Dr John Satyamoorthy, President - Malaysian Association for Responsible Pet Ownership (MARPO)

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Stop the Hunt - Protest Against the Selayang Dog Catching Competition

Online Petition

To: Selayang Council

We, the undersigned, strongly protest the current dog hunting competition instigated by the Selayang Council(http://www.mps.gov.my/hanjing/dog.html)as reported in Sin Chew(4th Sept, 2007), The Star (6th Sept, 2007 : http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/9/6/nation/18796676&sec=nation) and Earth Times (http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/102926.html).


We strongly disagree with such a campaign to catch stray dogs for prize money which can only lead to more animal abuse and animal deaths. Such a barbaric campaign is totally irresponsible and ineffective in curbing and resolving the issue of stray animals in the city. We demand that the campaign be stopped and an alternative campaign be put in place using the so called prize money.



We would also like to appeal to the city councils across the country, animal lovers and all compassionate citizens of this good country to support our protest against such a disgusting show of inhumanity.


Sincerely,
The Undersigned