Requiem for canine victims of outbreak
KUCHING: Save Our Strays ( SOS) Kuching will be holding a requiem for canine victims of the rabies outbreak next Saturday ( Sept 9) at Trinity Hub, Jalan Datuk Tawi Sli here from 7.30pm to 10pm.
Its committee member Kimly Lim said the event serves to mourn the thousands of lives lost during the outbreak.
Activities include the lighting of 999 candles for the canine lives lost; observing a minute of silence at 9.09pm; setting-up of a memorial corner; behind-the- scenes slideshow presentation; and an open mic sharing session for everyone to share their stories of pain and joy during this time.
Asked why only 999 candles are to be lit, she said the original idea was to light one for each doggie life, but the number of lives lost kept increasing each day so it was difficult to get the statistics right.
The candles will be provided by the organisers.
“We choose all the ‘9’ for this event as in Chinese, the number also refers to ‘dog’ and represents longevity. We bid our respect to the thousands of fallen dogs and pray for living dogs to have long life,” she said during an interview yesterday.
She said between 200 and 300 people are expected to turn up for the event, which is the first to be organised by SOS Kuching for the fallen dogs.
Elaborating on the activities during the event, she said the memorial corner is a special corner for the feeders, friends of strays, and pet owners who lost their furry friends during the period; while Behind-the- Scenes is a slideshow on what really happened to the dogs that were caught, how they were treated, caged and put down.
“Many people do not realise that complaining about strays or asking the authorities to remove them means cruelty and instant death,” she said.
There is also an acoustic music session in different languages by local performers in remembrance of all the dogs who were deliberately killed during the outbreak, she added.
We choose all the ‘9’ for this event as in Chinese, the number also refers to ‘dog’ and represents longevity. We bid our respect to the thousands of fallen dogs and pray for living dogs to have long life. Kimly Lim, Save Our Strays (SOS) Kuching committee member