(MY) Shot dogs owner distraught

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Fierce standoff over 25 dogs

New Straits Times

30 Jun 2006

Ridzwan Abdullah

 

SEREMBAN: They came armed with guns and a court order to shoot 25 dogs kept

at a residential home.

 

But what was supposed to have been a quick operation ended up with the owner

turning aggressive and 13 of his beloved canines dead.

 

At 8am yesterday, a team of enforcement officers from the Seremban Municipal

Council (MPS) officers entered Eng Her Sun’s home in Taman Desa Rasah.

 

They had come with a court order to cull the dogs.

 

The court order was obtained after MPS had failed in earlier attempts to get

Eng to relocate the dogs from the terrace house into another area.

 

Council president Abdul Halim Abdul Latif said neighbours had complained

that dogs had become a nuisance because of the stench and incessant barking.

 

The council obtained a court order in Dec 2005 which gave it the authority

to cull the dogs. However, Halim said, on humanitarian grounds, the council

gave Eng a grace period of six months to move the dogs out.

 

After the grace period ended, his officers held several rounds of talks but

Eng refused to comply.

 

" So, we had no choice but to initiate this exercise... In fact we tried to

talk to him again today but he still refused to comply.

 

" But before we could get to that, the owner turned aggressive and prevented

the officers from coming in. "

 

Council officers had brought along several veterinary department officers as

the inital plan was to tranquilise the dogs first. But the dogs became

violent and attacked the officers.

 

The situation turned more chaotic when a desperate Eng, in a bid to save as

many dogs as he could, drove his car out of the porch with 10 of his dogs

inside.

 

In the process, he crashed into a motorcycle belonging to one of the

council’s personnel. With their owner gone, the remaining dogs were shot,

one at a time.

 

Describing his dogs as his best friends, he questioned the council’s move as

he believed his dogs had done no harm.

 

" They are in my own compound, so what is so wrong in keeping them? I am

thinking of taking legal action against them (council) for tresspassing, " he

said.

 

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Friday/National/20060630081007/Article/in\

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Owner distraught over cruel killing of 13 dogs

New Straits Times

01 Jul 2006

Arni Abdul Razak

 

SEREMBAN: As animal lovers howled with outrage over the killing of 13 dogs

by the municipal council at a house here, questions arose as to whether the

dogs were indeed a nuisance.

 

The Seremban Municipal Council (MPS) maintains that exasperated neighbours

complained about the dogs, but a neighbour said they had got used to the

dogs and no one complained.

 

And the owner of the dogs, Eng Her Sun, grieved over his lost " children " at

his Taman Rasah Jaya terrace house yesterday.

 

Eng said: " My house became a killing field. There was blood everywhere. I

not only lost my dogs but I also had to spend hours cleaning the blood. This

is so inhumane. Those dogs were like my children. "

 

Eng plans to write to the Prime Minister to complain about the manner in

which Seremban Municipal Council (MPS) officers entered his house and killed

13 of his 26 dogs on Thursday.

 

A team of enforcement officers from the MPS entered Eng’s house, and shot 13

of his dogs.

 

Eng, who lived with his sister and 26 dogs, managed to rescue nine of them.

The other four were unhurt because they hid under the cupboard during the

shooting.

 

The odd-job worker, who currently has four dogs staying with him, said he

took the other nine to his rented house in Kuala Sawah, near Mambau, located

about two km from Taman Rasah Jaya.

 

" When the authorities told me to keep my dogs elsewhere, I rented a wooden

house for RM140 a month. For six months, I lived with three or four dogs at

the terrace house. The others were left in Kuala Sawah.

 

" However, about three weeks ago, a neighbour there told me that MPS officers

had been watching the house, and had even threatened to shoot them.

 

" That was why I brought them to stay with me. I never expected it to end

this way, " said a distraught Eng.

 

The MPS, however, had another story. Council president Abdul Halim Abdul

Latif said the officers had been watching the house in Kuala Sawah, and

found it to be empty.

 

" Eng didn’t leave the dogs at the wooden house. All 26 of them were staying

with him and his sister at the terrace house, " he said.

 

He added that the council had received numerous complaints about Eng and his

dogs over the years.

 

" All we want is for him to keep his dogs elsewhere and to be more

considerate towards his neighbours. They can’t tolerate the bad smell and

incessant barking anymore, " he said.

 

Commenting on the killing, Abdul Halim said the officers had no choice but

to shoot the dogs because they (the officers) were being attacked.

 

" Eng wouldn’t co-operate, so we had to break into the house. When the dogs

realised our presence, they began attacking us. We initially wanted to

tranquillise the dogs, but had to resort to shooting them, " he said.

 

The story changed again where Eng’s neighbours were concerned.

 

Neighbour Yusnita Mohd Yusof, 35, said none of her neighbours had complained

about the dogs.

 

" The dogs never made much noise, and usually barked when someone was

standing outside the house or provoked, " she said.

 

Yusnita, who has been living here for five years, said children sometimes

threw firecrackers at the dogs during festive occasions just to see how the

dogs reacted.

 

" Even when the owner took the dogs out for walks, he would clean after

them, " she said.

 

Meanwhile, Sherrina Krishnan of Independent Pet Rescuers said the dogs

should not have been killed so mercilessly, especially not in the home of

its owner.

 

" Were they shot because they were dogs? What if the neighbours complained

about a man with many cats? Would the authorities storm into the house and

kill the cats too?

 

" We will be visiting Eng on Sunday. We also want to take him to a ‘safe

place’ where he can live with his dogs without fear, " said Sherrina, who

rescues abandoned cats and dogs and helps find proper homes for them.

 

Malaysian Animal Welfare Foundation education officer Sabrina Yeap said

there were plans to take Eng and his dogs to the Animal Paradise farm in

Pekan Nanas, Johor soon. The farm is a haven for more than 1,000 animals.

 

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Saturday/National/20060701080446/Article/\

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[Photo]

 

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Friday/National/20060630081007/dogs.JPG

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Malaysian National Animal Welfare Foundation

 

http://www.mnawf.org.my/

 

Independent Pet Rescuers

 

http://www.rescue2rehome.blogspot.com/