Animal lovers demand end to ‘indifference’

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Sat:  Animal lovers from throughout Selangor, the Federal Territory, and other parts of the country descended at the SPCA office in Jalan Kerja Air Lama here today, in a show of support for its ongoing drive to amend the Animal Ordinance 1953.

 

Holding forms bearing the signatures of thousands of other supporters, they said the pre-Merdeka Ordinance was a disgrace to modern Malaysia and only showed that the authorities were “indifferent” to the plight of abused animals.

 

They pointed out that Section 44(1)(d) of the Ordinance only provided for a maximum RM200 fine or six months jail or both for those convicted of animal cruelty.

 

“The maximum custodial sentence the courts had meted out was only three days, and this is an insult to the tremendous suffering inflicted upon abused animals,” said Shoba Mano, founding member of the Remembering Sheena Campaign which organised today’s rally. “We are afraid that unless the law is amended to make the jail time mandatory, which we hope will be a mandatory one year sentence, we feel the courts might continue to mete out these token sentences.”

 

Shoba said the Campaign had earlier written to the Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Malaysia, Yang Amat Arif Tun Dato' Sri Ahmad Fairuz Dato' Sheikh Abdul Halim, highlighting the token sentences meted out by the courts, and called on him to ensure justice for abused animals.

 

“However, his reply only advised those who feel the sentences were inadequate to file an appeal. Obviously, he does not understand the issues or what we are talking about.

 

“It is this kind of indifference that is plaguing the authorities when we speak about animals,” Shoba said, pointing out that such indifference also extended to local authorities, such as the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA).

 

She said the MBSA “which is attempting to illegally enforce new ‘anti-dog rules’, had classified Rottweilers as ‘ferocious dogs’, but in the same breath permitted the disabled, who are among society’s most vulnerable groups, to keep them.

“But most ridiculous is their ruling requiring all dog license applicants to have the written consent of neighbours who shall agree to bear all the risks if the dog caused any problems.”

Selangor & Federal Territory SPCA animal inspector, Sabrina Yeap, said she was very happy that the Campaign had come forward to mobilise the public in its signature drive to petition the prime minister to amend the Ordinance.

 

“The petition, which included the signatures of supporters, was supposed to have been handed to the prime minister in October 2004. But we collected less than our targeted 100,000 signatures, so we postponed it.

 

“Now, with the help of the Campaign and other individuals and organisations, we hope to meet this target,” she said, adding that the petition sought to:

 

·         Increase the cruelty fine from RM200 to around RM10,000;

·         Increase jail time; and

·         Impose a lifetime ban on convicted cruelty offenders of owning animals and stopping the courts from returning abused pets to them;

 

Yeap also called on owners to spay or neuter their pets, provide adequate food, space, exercise, love and medical attention and be considerate neighbours.

 

Earlier, the Campaign handed out fliers urging the public to sign up as educators who will visit schools, colleges, government departments, local councils, NGOs and other societies to teach them about caring for animals and how to identify cruelty cases.

 

Shoba said Campaign founders were working closely with Yeap to structure the educational material for the programme, which will be kicked off as soon as they signed up enough volunteers.

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