Problem of stray dogs a result of governance failure, says activist

 Rajesh Nagarajan says rising cases of attacks by strays is a result of years of unchecked abandonment and breeding.

An animal rights activist says the authorities should identify any ‘hotspots’ for animal attacks, if any, and remove the animals responsible. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA:

An animal rights activist has hit back at calls for stricter action against roaming dogs, saying stray animals are being blamed for what he described as years of government failure to manage abandonment, breeding and licensing.

Rajesh Nagarajan of Lawyers for Animal Rights said that he shared concerns for children’s safety following recent dog attacks, but stressed that stray dogs were “not the problem”.

“Stray dogs do not appear by themselves. They are the product of abandonment, uncontrolled breeding, and local authorities who never built a real population management system,” he said in a statement.

“Treating the animals as the target now is not a safety policy. It’s a cover story,” he said.

His statement followed a call by Suhakam’s children’s commissioners urging local authorities to identify “child-sensitive roaming-dog hotspots” and adopt clearer, risk-based enforcement standards, following public uproar after a two-year-old girl in Johor suffered injuries allegedly after being attacked by five dogs last week.

Rajesh said that if genuine hotspots existed, the authorities should name them, investigate them, and remove the specific animals responsible.

Enforcement must distinguish a genuinely dangerous animal from “a healthy dog with no owner”, he said.

“The label ‘stray’ is not a risk assessment. Before any crackdown, authorities owe answers: How many complaints preceded each attack, and what was done with them? Were dangerous animals ever assessed or removed? Were sterilisation and vaccination programmes actually funded?” he said.

Rajesh also expressed concern over the possibility of bounty schemes or mass killing of stray dogs, saying such measures would not address the causes of the problem.

“Removing dogs without fixing abandonment and breeding (issues) just creates a revolving door. New animals take their place within weeks. That’s enforcement theatre, not population management,” he said.

He called instead for compulsory identification, sustained sterilisation and vaccination, enforcement against abandonment, professional assessment of dangerous animals, and transparent public data.

“Where there is a demonstrable, immediate threat to a child, act decisively; against the dangerous animal, not every unowned one,” he said. - FMT