Govt urged to urgently table bill to monitor dog ownership

KUCHING: Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii is urging the Sarawak government to expedite the tabling of a bill in the State Legislative Assembly to enable the monitoring of dog ownership through pet microchip implants.

He said this in order to address the issue of dog dumping by irresponsible people while also serving as one of efforts to curb the spread of rabies.

According to Dr Yii, such a bill was supposed to have been tabled in July last year but was delayed to November 2018, with Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian explaining that there were other more urgent matters such as the Native Customary Rights ( NCR) land issue that had to be introduced.

“However, since the November (2018) sitting, no such bill has been introduced. This clearly shows the lack of urgency shown by the Sarawak government to properly deal with the rabies outbreak, which was first detected in July of 2017.

“At that time, there were only five villages in Serian declared as rabies-infected areas. Since then, the outbreak has spread to 61 areas across Sarawak except Limbang Division, and has so far claimed 16 human lives,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Dr Yii said he had been receiving multiple feedbacks from different stakeholders that cases of dogs and even cats being dumped had increased in many areas in and around Kuching.

This will, of course, increase the risk of more dogs being infected, and spreading the deadly disease even among humans, he added.

The reasons for such dumping, he pointed out, are many including the lack of awareness among pet owners themselves, and the lack of understanding on the dog licence registration introduced by the local councils.

“It was last year that the ministry announced that all new dog licensing and control by-laws would come into force on Dec 1, 2018.

“However, based on feedbacks received, the registration process may be somewhat complicated and this has hindered many pet owners from registering their dogs. This may also contribute to the increase of dog dumping,” Dr Yii said.

He said the local councils should look into ways to simplify the licence registration process while also setting up proper designated dog pounds all over the state to reduce dumping of dogs on the streets.

“The microchipping legislation should also not be delayed any longer. The microchip is a radio frequency implant that provides permanent identity for pets, while also identifying the pet owners.

“It is also important for the public to be vigilant and play their part in tackling the spread of this deadly disease. We must take more responsibility over our pets,” he added.