Share |

Thursday, 19 July 2012

Dogs put down in violation of MPAJ by-laws

Five cannies and four puppies euthanised without observing seven-day grace period.

PETALING JAYA: A police report was today lodged against the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) for euthanising homeless dogs in breach of the council’s own by-laws.

M Siva, 33, lodged the report at the Pandan Indah police station at about 7pm yesterday. He was accompanied by his wife T Uma.

Siva said that there were five homeless dogs that used to loiter around his apartment at Bukit Pandan Bestari that went missing last Thursday.

“The dogs are friendly and many of us feed them ,including the security guards at my apartment. I was attached to one particular dog that looked like a Golden Retriever,” said Siva.

When asked about the dogs disappearance, Siva said that the security guards informed him that the canines were caught by local council officers.

Siva, an executive in a multi-national company, called up the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) the following day as he wanted to adopt the dogs and found out that that it was not City Hall that caught them.

“I realised that if it was not DBKL it must have been MPAJ. So I called up the office on Saturday morning but they were closed,” he said.

On Monday, Siva said that he called up MPAJ again and was attended to by an officer who went by the name Amy Fadhil.

“He told me that he’ll call me back but he didn’t. I called once more and insisted on some information. He transferred my call to another officer by the name of Vijay.

“He confirmed that they caught the five dogs together with four puppies. And to my horror, Vijay told me that all the dogs were put down on Saturday, the day I first called,” he said.

Outsourced to third party

Angered by the news, Siva and his wife went to MPAJ in the afternoon and checked with the local council’s legal department on their regulations in dealing with stray animals.

Siva claimed that he found out that MPAJ by-laws stipulate that dogs caught by the council must be kept for at least seven working days before deciding the next course of action.

He later confronted Amy and Vijay but claimed that the duo ended up blaming each other. The officers even accused a doctor employed by the MPAJ for the killings.

Siva was also livid when the officers refused to reveal details on how and where the dogs and puppies were to sleep, citing confidentiality.

“The officers simply told me that they outsourced the matter to third party, meaning they engaged private dog catchers to deal with strays,” said Siva.

Unhappy with the outcome, Siva said that he will consult his lawyers to get a court order to get the dogs’ carcasses.

“I may try get the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) to conduct a post-mortem on the carcasses to find out how they were put down,” he said.

Selangor DVS deputy director Dr Fadzillah Radan, when contacted, said that she had not heard of the case but added that MPAJ should have followed its own by-laws in dealing with the dogs.

“Even then, the dogs must be put to sleep under the supervision of a qualified veterinarian,” she said.

FMT could not reach Selangor exco for local council affairs, Ronnie Liu for comments.

Read more: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/frontpage/2012/07/18/dogs-put-down-in-violation-of-mpaj-by-laws/#ixzz2103cfTvV

No comments: