Malaysia - letters on lack of concern for animals

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Letters - The New Straits Times - 2nd July 2004

 

Protection of animals must be taken very seriously

 

 

I HAVE just returned from a long vacation with my family after visiting

several countries. Apart from all the beautiful sights, different cultures

and food we experienced, a couple of things stood out in our travels. One of

the things we noticed in most cities was their concern for environmental

issues, including stringent rulings on recyclable waste. Although this topic

has always been of universal concern, one cannot help but notice that the

least talked-about social aspect in most of these countries appears to be

their love for pets. This appears to be a part of their way of life which

includes their establishing animal hospitals with specialist centres,

restaurants where pets are allowed and laws ensuring that owners clean up

after their pets in parks and public places. In particular, one would also

marvel at the more prominent role dogs play in helping the blind and

elderly, assisting in crime detection, drug smuggling, etc. After my return,

I read a report sometime this month, " Dog abuse ruling upsets activists " .

Suffice to say, although I am not an activist, it is appalling to read of

the kind of sentences meted out by our courts for some of the offences by

owners. A court imposed a fine of RM200 for abuse of 13 pedigree dogs. I

gathered that this owner, upon paying the meagre fine, was allowed to

continue keeping the abused dogs. It gives one the impression that either an

offence of this nature is too trivial to be entertained by our courts or the

sentence is making a mockery of our judicial system and wasting public

funds.

 

H.K.

Kuala Lumpur

 

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