ZSM credited for reducing number of strays
MIRI: Zero Strays Miri (ZSM) has been lauded for helping to reduce the population of stray animals especially during the current outbreak of rabies.
In saying this, Assistant Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Datuk Lee Kim Shin handed over a cheque of RM21,000 from Sarawak government to the nongovernmental organisation (NGO) as financial assistance in the hope that ZSM could sustain their effort in saving the stray animals and helping the community.
After it was established in 2013, ZCM implemented many strategies such as the TNR (Trap, Neuter and Release/ Rehome) programme to help reduce the population of stray animals.
In the battle against rabies, especially during the early days of the outbreak, it helped in recapturing strays with ZSM tags and vaccination against rabies.
Their effort even extended to building two temporary shelters to keep the animals safe.
“It is their selfless effort that had won my respect and had moved the Sarawak government to approve the fund to help build these shelters. With these shelters, I hope that it could help reduce the number of stray dogs and cats,” said Lee during a visit to the temporary shelter in Kuala Baram yesterday.
ZSM president Sterwina Kho expressed her gratitude to Lee and the Sarawak government.
“Apart from the cost of building the temporary shelters, the expenses of handling such huge shelter with 200 dogs and cats requires approximately RM8,000 per month. As we are an NGO fully-dependent on public donation, we are open to any sort of donation including food and monetary support,” said Kho who received the cheque on behalf of the organisation.
She stressed that they also have a more proactive plan to reduce the population in the shelter with their adoption programme.
“Usually every stray that comes into our shelter will be monitored for about six months, to ensure that they are free of any diseases before being allowed to be released for adoption. Thus, we hope that with our strict monitoring and adoption programme, it could encourage more citizens to adopt these stray animals,” she added.