DOES THE MAYOR OF KL EVEN CARE?

I have to apologise for not being able to translate the full episode aired by TV3's 360 - I haven't had the time unfortunately.

I would like to thank 360's presenter and producer, Mazidul Akmal Sidik, for highlighting the plight of the animals in our country once again.

I would also like to congratulate all the animal activists who turned up at the DBKL pound for the peaceful protest against the brutal treatment of the animals by the staff of DBKL, and also to those who "rescued" a large number of dogs and puppies from a painful and cruel death.

I am unsure as to whether all the rescued dogs have been re-homed at the moment, but will do my best to keep everyone uptoday.

In the mean time, I am disappointed that the Mayor of KL seems to have backtracked on his promise to conduct a thorough investigation on this issue - as is clearly evidenced in the videos that I have previously posted.

The contradicting statements made by the Mayor are also reported by The Malay Mail and The Star. I am attaching the articles here as well in case the links don't work.

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The Malay Mail : Animal Torture Chamber
February 5, 2009

Barbaric. There is no other way to describe the inhumane manner in which, if found to be true, animals were allegedly put down at a local council-run animal pound in Setapak: cats were drowned and dogs strangled.

Malay Mail was alerted to the alleged monstrosity taking place at the Kuala Lumpur City Hall pound, located at Air Panas, by a member of the public. She claimed to have seen council staff dunking cats in water to drown them and dogs being strangled to death.

She was present at the premises as she had brought her pet to the neutering clinic of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) which operates within the City Hall premises.
Checks with SPCA yesterday revealed the organisation did indeed receive the same complaint on cruelty on Jan 24 and stated they were in touch with the complainant to gather more details of the alleged incident.

It was also learnt that SPCA received a similar report by someone claiming to have seen a dog being strangled at the premises last November.

In the latest report received by the non-govermental organisation, the complainant claimed that the incident happened before 8am while she was waiting for the clinic to open at 9am.

SPCA stressed the incident in question did not involve any of its staff and that although based within the City Hall premises they were a separate entity.

"Ours is a dedicated, low-cost, highly subsidised neutering clinic set up by SPCA with the support of City Hall as a long-term, cost-effective and humane solution to the growing stray population crisis.

"The City Hall Dog Pound is where the dog (and cats) caught by the council are housed temporarily, before being claimed by their owners or euthanised by council staff," said SPCA public relations and marketing department assistant manager Jacinta Johnson.

Jacinta said SPCA had since written an official letter to City Hall’s health director asking for an explanation over both incidents and was in the midst of investigating the case.

She said all councils have been supplied with the Department of Veterinary Services’ "Guidelines on catching and exterminating stray dogs (2008)" yet SPCA continued to receive reports from members of the public on inhumane practices by local councils.

Kuala Lumpur Mayor Datuk Ahmad Fuad Ismail was outraged and vowed to investigate the matter thoroughly. He said a life, even that of an animal, must be respected and the strangling and drowning of dogs and cats was not the way to euthanise them.“If true, that would be very cruel and City Hall is taking a serious view of the matter. Even for a prisoner on death row, we cannot simply strangle him as there are guidelines to follow.

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The Star - Mayor : Killings sensationalised
February 18, 2009

THE alleged killing of stray dogs at the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) animal pound in Setapak was blown out of proportion, said Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Ahmad Fuad Ismail.

The mayor, who had instructed his officers to conduct an investigation, said the visuals shown over TV3 programme 360° showing a dog pound worker dragging a dying dog with a loop around its neck was not entirely correct.

“The dog was already dead after our officers had euthanised it. What was shown on TV was a worker dragging a dead dog. It was not strangled or its neck fractured as reported,’’ he said.
While the mayor acknowledged that whole process should have been better managed, he, however, denied that the dogs were brutally killed at the DBKL dog pound.

“We have been operating the pound for over seven years in collaboration with the SPCA and there has never been such an incident,’’ he said.

On the issue of the burial method, the mayor said the landfill in Bukit Taga refused to take the carcasses so DBKL had to bury the dead dogs inside the pound. But this was done under the Dog Licensing and Canal bylaws.

The process involves digging several holes which are about 6ft deep. The hole is layered with lime dust as a disinfectant. Each hole can take in about 60 dogs and the process is repeated months later.

“As bad as it may sound, there is no other way to do this as the cost of having an incinerator is too expensive,” Fuad said.

Under the Dog Licensing and Canal bylaws 1991, stray dogs caught by the DBKL will be kept for seven days before they are put to sleep.

“The cost of catching a dog is RM30 and feeding and euthanising a dog costs RM120.

“The DBKL catches some 8,000 stray dogs a year. Last year alone, over 7,800 dogs were put down at the Setapak dog pound,” Fuad said.

The mayor said if they were to engage a veterinarian to administer the injections, it would cost more. Fuad, however, promised to look into all aspects of the situation and better manage it.

The DBKL, in collaboration with the SPCA, had initiated the Klinik Kembiri programme a few years ago whereby cats and dogs are spayed to prevent unwanted stray population. Since 2003, over 8,000 cats and dogs have been spayed.