Remains of dogs exhumed for tests
They are believed to have been poisoned
SEREMBAN: As authorities exhumed the remains of two dogs at Lavender Heights near here to see if they had been poisoned, animal lovers want more concrete measures taken to educate the young to love animals while still in school.
Personnel from the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) and the police forensic unit arrived at the neighbourhood here where they spent three hours digging up the remains of two of the five dogs believed to have been poisoned last week.
Their carcasses were then taken to the DVS in body bags where a post-mortem would be conducted.
State DVS director Dr Nik Hamidah Nik Husin when contacted said her officers would collect samples from the carcasses and send them for analysis.
"We can't say much for now as we are investigating this with the police.
"But we will analyse the samples to ascertain the cause of death," she said adding that she could not tell how long this would take.
When contacted, Seremban OCPD ACP Thiew Hock Poh said the matter was still being probed.
The police are investigating the case under Section 428 of the Penal Code for mischief by killing or maiming animals. The offence if proven, carries an imprisonment term for up to three years or a fine.
Malaysian Animal Welfare Association (Mawa) founder S. Mukunnan said it was time the provisions under the Animal Welfare Act was made part of the school curriculum.
"This will help instil compassion towards strays in the young and while they are still in school.
"We need to do this as we are seeing more and more cases of strays including those with owners being poisoned," he said.
He said animal lovers as well as non-governmental organisations can also help out by organising awareness programmes in school as well as in residential areas.
Mukunnan said this was also crucial as methods used by the local councils to check the stray problem to date had been ineffective.
"We saw local council personnel shooting stray dogs for many years but the problem persisted.
"After that was catching and disposing the strays but this too did not solve the problem or reduce the stray population," he said.
Mukunnan, who said Mawa had twice submitted proposals to Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin to check the stray problem said this could also be resolved if stricter laws are enforced.
Citing an example, he said owners who refused to spay or neuter their pets must be made to pay 10 times more when renewing their annual licences.
"Also, it should be mandatory for owners to insert microchips into their pets to prevent the animals from being dumped," he said adding that this would also allow rescuers to identify their owners in the event they are abandoned.