Kebun-kebun Bangsar told to get rid of ‘noisy’ animals after complaint

Kebun-kebun Bangsar, a community garden in a plush neighbourhood in Bukit Pantai in Kuala Lumpur is urging its neighbours and supporters to testify against a noise complaint report against the garden.

This comes after the Kuala Lumpur City Hall on Feb 25 issued a notice for the garden to get rid of its animals within seven days.

The animals include chickens, ducks, geese, guineafowl, rabbits and cows.

Since posting the final notice from DBKL on Facebook, the post has received overwhelming support from the public and has invited them to write to DBKL in resisting the move against the animal.

Kebun-kebun Bangsar, which started as a community vegetable plot, introduced animals to the farm about a year ago. 

The cows help maintain the grassland while other animals are integral in keeping pests at bay, Kebun-kebun Bangsar founder and landscape architect Ng Sek San told Malaysiakini.

He said the complaint by a neighbouring homeowner started six months ago.

Ng said to address the complaint, Kebun-kebun Bangsar moved the animals away from the resident’s home.

“We have shifted the cows further away from his house. He complains about the noisier animals too like the geese and the duck. 

“So, we again took the geese and the duck and moved them to a site that is away from his house. We thought everything was okay,” he said.

However, this was not enough to appease the complainant, who told TNB that the animals also posed a health and safety hazard.

Ng said this prompted an inspection by DBKL’s director of Health and Environment Department, Dr Noor Akma Shabudin, who found the garden met the health and safety quality standards, Ng said.

Ng (photo) said the group does not want to remove the animals because they not only help with work on the farm, but act as an educational tool to city children who visit the garden.

“We cannot remove the animal ourselves. They belong to the people of KL,” he said, adding that the animals are not a nuisance in terms of noise or smell.

Ng said the garden’s other immediate neighbours have agreed to testify against the noise complaint, but the public can lend their support by writing to the Kuala Lumpur mayor or signing the garden’s petition.  

Founded in 2017, Kebun-kebun Bangsar is an effort to reclaim community green spaces, which are fast depleting in the urban jungle of Kuala Lumpur.

It is located in an 8.5-acre piece of hill-side land which had been vacant for many years before that because of the nearby electricity pylons.

The project was initially opposed by local residents who were concerned it would undermine the slope stability and bring in outsiders into the upper-class neighbourhood.

They have since warmed to the project, Ng said, with some taking part in the gotong-royong sessions to maintain the garden every weekend.

Following Kebun-kebun Bangsar’s success, he spearheaded another community garden in neighbouring Kerinchi. - Mkini