(MY) dogs' problems

[Guest guest]

Dog lovers protest - The Malay Mail

Pauline Almeida

Jan 15:

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IS the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) trying to eliminate dogs from

this Selangor township? If it's not, then how is it that the new

regulations appear discriminatory and misguided to responsible dog

owners?

 

Dog owners in Shah Alam are strongly opposing MBSA's dog licensing

regulations which they described as based on " fear and ignorance and

missing out on facts " .

 

They feel the regulations, enforced from January 1, are unfair and do

not take into account the feelings of animal-loving residents.

 

MBSA announced that it will only allow dogs to be kept in corner link

units and semi-detached houses and bungalows. Dogs are banned from

intermediate link houses. Dog owners also need to obtain permission

from their neighbours to obtain licences.

 

Shelters of a stipulated size and kind must also be built and dogs

must be muzzled when they are taken out in public areas.

 

Malaysian Association of Responsible Pet Ownership (MARPO) pro-tem

president Dr Jon Satyamoorthy said that while MBSA has said that these

regulations are meant to prevent problems and unfortunate incidents, a

few of which have occurred in the past, they also appear to restrict,

if not eventually eliminate, the keeping of dogs as pets in Shah Alam.

 

" The regulations are formulated based on one-sided views. So out of

protest we didn't attend MBSA's dialogue three days ago. But we will

be meeting the mayor of Shah Alam soon to state our views and to tell

him that we want to work with MBSA in formulating practical

regulation, " said Dr Satyamoorthy at a Press conference in Shah Alam

yesterday. " We are pleading with MBSA to listen to us and scrap the

new regulations which are discriminatory in nature. "

 

MARPO handed a memorandum containing their views to Shah Alam mayor

Datuk Ramli Mahmud a week ago, and a similar memo to Selangor Menteri

Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo on Friday.

 

They are appealing to the Selangor Government to revoke the

regulations made on an " ad-hoc basis " and to prevent other local

authorities from imposing new regulations for dog licensing and

implement the uniform regulations being drafted by the Federal

Government instead.

 

Also present at the Press conference yesterday were other dog owners

in Shah Alam, including Chong Mun Lin, Joseph Paul, Rosdiana Yassin,

Ng Thiam Hui, S. Gopalasingam, Lee Lay Cheng, Sonia Ravindran and S.

Jagathiswari.

 

Currently, there are some 570 licensed dog owners in Shah Alam, but

there are more than a thousand owners whose applications for dog

licences were rejected by MBSA.

 

An owner has to pay RM30 a year for a dog licence in Shah Alam, which

the owners also object to as they want the fee to remain at RM10 as

was previously the case.

 

" MBSA has almost zero tolerance for these animals in Shah Alam and are

punishing responsible dog owners, " said Ng.

 

Last year, MBSA deputy mayor Za'ba Che Rus said the city council is

still willing to review the new rules governing dog ownership.

 

He had said the new ruling reflected MBSA's policy that " prevention is

better than cure " .

 

" The local council is always the first to be blamed when dogs attack

humans. Although dog owners claim that these are isolated cases, must

we wait for another tragedy before we act? " Za'ba was quoted as

saying.