Let’s have a heart for the voiceless

While the government is promoting itself as a warm, friendly and caring one, its record on animal welfare is abysmal judging by its inaction on countless cases of cruelty by local councils.

COMMENT

Recent news of a National Service trainee bludgeoned to death by fellow training participants in Penang hardly mattered to the federal government, going by the pin drop silence over this issue.

It has become typical for prime minister Najib Tun Razak, as always, to chose not to address issues that tug at the hearts of the rakyat. Rather, interest was and still is on former Communist Malaya Party chief Chin Peng whose demise in Bangkok on Malaysia Day continues to give fodder to the Barisan Nasional government.

From the prime minister to his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin to the nation’s former Inspector-General of Police, all have lots to say about how dangerous a man Chin Peng was.

Just why does the BN government keep spinning a yarn over Chin Peng’s brutalities is anyone’s guess. It seems that the government finds ‘politicising’ the entire Chin Peng affair more ‘lucrative’ than tackling the downfall of the National Service programme or making sure the local authorities do not perpetuate abusive behaviour towards animals.

Today is World Animal Day, an occasion that warrants reflection on the important role animals, especially domestic pets play in our lives.

However, like in previous years, this year too the World Animal Day is lost on the Malaysian government who seems more engrossed in flogging a dead staunch communist instead of bucking up and making life pleasant for both animals and the rakyat alike.

Animal ‘persecution’ in Malaysia is at an all-time high. The violent manner adopted by local councils’ dog catchers sends shivers down our spine.

Time and time again animal lovers have cried foul over the way animals, be they pets or street animals are treated by the authorities.

It is not only the cats and dogs that our government has little tolerance for. The same apathy is shown towards other animals, be they elephants and orangutans that continue to face physical and mental torture at the hands of the notorious ‘A’ Famosa Resort.

Friends of the Orangutans recently exposed the brutality the resort continues to use against animals when a staff was caught beating a elephant viciously. The animals were chained for some 15 hours a day and forced to perform without rest.

What has further invoked the wrath of animal lovers is the fact that the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) ended up defending the actions of the resort. Just why does the government not act on those who harm animals? Does the government of the day not view animal life and rights equally worthy?

Is this why the federal leadership saw no reason to give priority to cases such as that where a dog ends up dead after being sent for grooming to a veterinary hospital in Cheras? The dog, a five-year-old Shih Tzu, was sent by its guardian to Segar Veterinary Hospital in Cheras on July 14 and was to fetch her pet later the same day.

However, when Leong Yoke Chang returned to take her dog, Bobby, home, she was shocked to be told that it had died. A CCTV footage from the hospital was evident of how a man pinned the down the dog tightly while the groomer sheared off its fur. When it was all over, the man let go of his hold on the dog who by then was motionless.

To add insult to injury, the hospital did not have the decency to inform Leong that Bobby had died. For animal lovers, such news is devastating. But what is more heartbreaking is the fact that the authorities like the Veterinary Services Department did not find it ‘worthwhile’ to take the hospital to task for being both negligent and irresponsible.

How should Malaysians then conclude the ‘couldn’t care less’ attitude of both the federal government and the authorities concerned when it concerns the welfare and well-being of animals?

No end to abuse of animals in Malaysia

Should one stoop so low as to take a bet that the government will neither ‘recognise’ nor bother according respect to animals and safeguard their welfare?

Had there been a ‘compassionate’ politician in our midst, animal rights would have received the much needed priority. Instead, the reverse is taking place, with the government agencies sitting on their laurels, adopting the ‘passers-by syndrome’ while animals are being abused one way or another in our country.

The list of cases involving brutality against animals is endless. Three years ago, an elderly woman was traumatised when the Ipoh City Council gunned down her loyal and licensed therapy dog. The council tried washing its hands off by saying it thought the dog was a street animal.

In March 2010, a concerned citizen wrote a letter to a news portal depicting the horror of witnessing a dog being abused at the Kepong Sentral KTM station by Kuala Lumpur City Hall workers who tied the dog to a grille and shoved a piece of wood down his throat.

The dog was bleeding and surrounded by its faeces. Its suffering least bothered these City Hall workers who were more concerned about sprucing up the area in preparation for a visit by a Cabinet minister.

The workers escaped punishment. Is this how people of a “caring” nation behave?

In 2005, The Star reported a cat breeder was charged in court with neglecting his cats by forcing them to lie inside small cages alongside their faeces, resulting in an unbearable stench.

In another incident in Johor Baru, five men armed with sticks attacked several street cats and dogs under the care of the Johor Baru Humane Touch Animal Welfare Society in Taman Delima.

Yet, another case involved the Kuala Langat District Council which was reported to have killed nine pedigree dogs without any veterinary assessment.

Then there was one Associate Professor Dr Khoo Kong Soo who had e-mailed a letter to FMT recounting the cruelty meted out by the Kampar District Council enforcement officers by shooting dogs in his area.

Khoo said the officers arrived on the morning of June 8 at his residential area of Taman Bukit Emas, Kampar, to shoot dogs. The housing estate is on the fringe of an Orang Asli settlement who have been staying there and rearing dogs long before the newer houses of Taman Bukit Emas were built.

Khoo had said that a dog was shot as he tried to run up the hill to the Orang Asli village.

“A rifle was used. I saw a single wound on the dog’s back. The body of the dog was loaded into a large container of water at the back of a pick-up truck. I went to the enforcement officers to protest and pleaded with them not to shoot the dogs as they were owned by Orang Asli, and an officer wearing a nametag of ‘Murali’ told me, ‘Kita tak boleh tembakkah?’ (Why shouldn’t we shoot?),” Khoo wrote.

Then there was the case where cats left under the care of Petknode Cat Boarding Centre ended up dead in 2011 all because the centre owners clamed they were ‘shorthanded’ in handling the felines sent for boarding during the Hari Raya period.

News of abuse and neglect at Petknode broke out on Sept 4, 2011 after pet guardians who returned from their Hari Raya holidays found their pets in unsanitary and appalling conditions.

It was reported that more than 100 cats there were in unhealthy conditions, suffering from wounds and weight loss while nine cats died.

As for Petknode owners’, they walked away smiling, only being jointly fined RM6,000.

Does the federal government have a heart?

Animal cruelty will continue to tug at our heart strings so long as the government keeps putting off the tabling of the Animal Welfare Bill in the back burner.

The BN government promised that the Bill would be tabled in parliament by the end of this year. With only two more months before the year comes to an end, the people are watching whether the government is truly serious about animal rights or is the Animal Welfare Bill yet another stunt by BN to deceive the rakyat?

Former Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Noh Omar had in November 2012 confirmed that the Animal Welfare Bill would be gazetted in 2013, adding that it would be in addition to the existing Animal Act.

Noh had said through the Animal Welfare Bill, stiffer penalties would be imposed, including a fine of RM20,000 to RM100,000 and maximum three years in prison for those convicted.

Noh had also launched the Malaysian Animal Welfare Strategic Plan (2012-2020) but not before doing what the BN government does best, putting aside a whoppping RM80 million the government claimed would be used to improve animal welfare.

The former minister had added that RM35 million had been allocated to set up the Centre of Animal Welfare Excellence (COE) at Universiti Putra Malaysia in 2013.

“The plan aims to cultivate responsible animal ownership and the government will strengthen aspects of education and training in animal welfare.

“At the same time, the government will strive to improve animal handlers through training and establishing standard operating procedures,” were Noh’s words.

Regrettably, the big budget, the strategic plan and the COE did nothing to stop animal abuse here. Nor will it be able to reverse the London-based 124-year-old The Mayhew Animal Home and Humane Education Centre’s view that Malaysia lacks respect for its animals.

Jeswan Kaur is a freelance writer and a FMT columnist.