(MY) doggone crazy idea

[Guest guest]

Sunday September 16, 2007-The Star

 

 

A doggone crazy idea

 

ON THE BEAT WITH WONG CHUN WAI

 

The Selayang Municipal Council's inane dog-catching competition

deserves the bashing it received. That is not the way to minimise

stray dogs in the district.

 

IT was a dumb idea from the beginning. The Selayang Municipal Council

(MPS) rightly deserves the bashing from many Malaysians for its inane

dog-catching competition.

 

The council may have good intentions by holding a contest with prize

money to reduce the number of unlicensed mongrels in the district but

the whole exercise was certainly ill conceived. To put it bluntly, it

was insensitive and cruel.

 

The media first started reporting the competition as a Klang Valley

metro news item but it soon generated into a national controversy as

the angry public made protest calls to newspaper offices.

 

The MPS had offered residents at least RM11,000 in cash prizes if they

could catch up to over 150 stray dogs within six months to solve the

stray dog problem in the area.

 

Its president Zainal Abidin Azim said the competition was introduced

as it had received about 80 complaints about stray dogs every month,

adding that despite catching 200 stray dogs every month as part of its

animal control management, the problem had remained unsolved.

 

Under the competition, residents were required to deliver the dogs

alive with photographs of the captured animals as proof while the

council would provide tools for these bounty hunters.

 

The first prize winner would walk home with RM15,000, the runner-up

RM13,000 while the third-placed winner RM11,000. The MPS also offered

RM20 for each stray dog caught as an incentive to the dog-catchers.

 

Mongrels may not be the top choice of many serious dog owners but

animal lovers cannot accept untrained residents going around the

neighbourhood nabbing these canines.

 

Dangerous mission

 

These hunters are not just hurting the animals but may even endanger

themselves because these stray dogs could become vicious and attack

them in defence.

 

Last week, common sense finally prevailed when the MPS called off the

competition following a meeting between state executive councillor

Datuk Tang See Hang, Zainal and animal rights groups and pet owners.

 

Tang, who had earlier launched the ludicrous competition, said the

decision had to do with safety concerns expressed by various groups

that untrained hunters could hurt themselves.

 

The MPS has now agreed to work closely with the SPCA and other animal

rights groups to ensure that dogs are handled and caught by trained

personnel. The council will also be strict on irresponsible pet owners

who abandon their pets.

 

Without doubt, there must be an effective programme involving the MPS

and the SPCA to reduce the number of stray dogs in the district

because no one wants to come into contact with wild or sick dogs.

 

But such competitions, as dog handler and professional groomer Noraini

Rozaiti Mahmud said, would inherently attract over-zealous residents

and this " could result in someone getting injured and the dogs being

blamed and crucified for attacking a person " .

 

Many dog owners are also worried that this competition would reinforce

the perception, if not prejudices, among some people that dogs are

bad, dirty and deserve to be killed.

 

Dogs are regarded as pets, if not family members, by most of us. But

their role as animal companions to the elderly, sick and particularly

the blind has not been given due recognition. For many of the elderly

who stay alone, these furry animals have become their only source of

joy and loyal companion.

 

Some of us take for granted these intelligent animals and only realise

their crucial role as rescuers during earthquakes, even in countries

that forbid ownership of these animals for religious reasons. It is

during such emergencies that these four-legged rescuers have to be

flown in to save human lives.

 

A big help

 

Dogs have now been used by enforcement agencies to sniff out pirated

DVD manufacturers, something unheard of previously. Anti-drug agencies

have long relied on dogs to nab traffickers at airports.

 

Children who are given dogs as pets learn the meaning of

responsibility and affection early in life. And when their pet dies,

they experience grief. These are lessons in life that the young learn.

 

What the MPS and the SPCA can do is to work together to tackle the

problem, including paying professionals to nab these dogs.

 

The residents in Selayang should be encouraged to neuter their dogs to

stop the growing number of these animals.

 

It is not just dogs that the council should worry about – stray cats

and crows that rummage rubbish bins are unsightly, and some kind of

control is necessary to keep the district clean.

 

Irrespective of our religion, it is important we show that animals are

God's creatures and should be properly treated.

 

What kind of message are we sending when we adopt inhumane and

barbaric measures to clamp down on creatures we deem unwanted and

wild?

 

As Mahatma Gandhi said, " The greatness of a nation can be judged by

the way animals are treated. "