SHAH ALAM: The Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) will heed the advice of Tengku Permaisuri Selangor Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin (pix) who has indicated that improvements needed to be made to the methods in managing stray dogs in the council’s jurisdiction.
Mayor Cheremi Tarman said the council would increase meetings and discussions with residents to provide an understanding on how MBSA manages stray dogs, and will refer to the state government whether the existing circular on guidelines for catching and disposal of dogs can be changed, especially replacing the word ‘disposal’ with a better word.
“We will refer to the state government for it to be brought to the Local Government Development Ministry to improve the existing circular, including replacing the word ‘disposal’ which can give a negative impression, especially to non-governmental organisations and animal lovers.
“The ‘disposal’ method practised by the MBSA is to send the animals to animal welfare centres, not to ‘put to sleep’ as only veterinary offiers are allowed to conduct the procedure,” he said at a media conference after chairing a meeting on coordinating control actions on strays in MBSA areas here today.
Tengku Permaisuri Selangor Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin expressed her dismay and disappointment yesterday following the latest developments on stray dog catching operations in Selangor.
Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin stated her strong disagreement towards the catch and dispose method conducted by any local authority, including the upcoming operation by MBSA in Setia Alam area that went viral.
Cheremi also stated that the operation to control and catch stray dogs was made with the cooperation of 24 zones of the Resident Representative Council of Shah Alam, and that in the first two months of the year, 133 stray dogs were caught out of 479 complaints received.
He said that stray dogs that were caught were temporarily housed at the MBSA animal centre and if the owner did not claim the dogs in seven days, the animals would be handed over to Paws Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) for further action. -Bernama
