Thursday November 18, 2010

Stop the shooting

There is an urgent need for a Bill to protect animals.

THE senseless and cruel shooting of a therapy dog in Ipoh recently was a big setback for Petpositive, an animal-assisted therapy organisation for the disabled and elderly.

The canine, Spunk, was shot dead by the local council (MBI). Spunk belonged to a 75-year-old retired teacher living in Taman Merdeka.

The courageous canine lived up to his name in every way. For 10 years, Spunk served as a faithful watchdog and kept his owner company after her husband passed away. Before anyone – or anything, for that matter – could even approach the front gate, Spunk was already there. This kept his owner safe and secure, especially during the night.

Spunk was also the elderly woman’s best defence against loneliness. He provided her with the motivation to exercise as she had to take him for his daily walks.

From what I heard from the owner, Spunk was also very popular with the neighbours. They all loved him.

In spite of her age, Spunk’s owner was a responsible pet owner. She would always bring along tissues to pick up her dog’s poo whenever they were out for walks.

However, on the morning of Oct 30, she forgot the tissues and went back into the house to get them, leaving Spunk at the gate.

Unfortunately, at that time the dog-shooters were doing their rounds. Seeing their vehicle, Spunk panicked and fled for his life.

Instead of exercising discretion in the situation, they hunted down the dog and shot him in cold blood. They showed no mercy even though Spunk had a valid dog licence around his neck.

His death made a mockery of the laws of the land which required that pet dogs be registered.

To make matters worse, the MBI quickly carted off the carcass before Spunk’s owner could see him. All that was left were traces of her best buddy’s blood splattered on the road.

Does the MBI realise what they have done? Not only have they robbed an elderly person of a friend and companion, but by carting the animal away without allowing her to see it, they have also denied her the chance to properly grieve over the loss of her dog.

Now she is left alone in an empty house filled with memories of Spunk.

And to think that we consider ourselves far superior to other living things.

Even animals in the wild take time to grieve over a loss at the risk of being consumed by predators in the process.

This brings me to the second incident: the passing away of Dusty, one of the few service dogs in the country.

Dusty passed away on Nov 6, and was buried in the compound of his home in a centre for the disabled where he had served for the past 10 years.

The Golden Retriever was a source of joy and inspiration to the residents at the centre.

“Dusty was trained to seek help from our neighbours in times of emergency,” said one of the residents at the centre.

Last week, a group of animal rights activists – including the disabled in wheelchairs – met up with Veterinary Services Department director-general Datuk Dr Abdul Aziz Jamaluddin in Putrajaya.

Following the meeting, the DG agreed to an immediate ban on dog-shooting in the country.

A protem Animal Welfare Council will be convened next Thursday. It will be chaired by Dr Abdul Aziz, who had mooted the idea.

The council will cover all aspects of animal welfare. Its main agenda is to push for the first-ever Animal Welfare Bill to protect all animals.

Wednesday November 17, 2010

Ipoh bans shooting of strays

IPOH: The Ipoh City Council has banned the shooting of stray animals with immediate effect.

Council secretary Datuk Abdul Rahim Md Ariff conveyed this decision to a group of animal activists who met him yesterday to hand over a memorandum calling for the ban.

This followed the shooting of Spunk, a 10-year-old dog who was left unattended by its owner here on Oct 29.

Fighting for animal rights: Anthony handing over the memorandum on behalf of the other NGOs to Abdul Rahim during a meeting Tuesday. With them are Dr Ranjit (right) and ISPCA adviser Dr Goh Hue Lang (third from right).

The killing of the therapy dog drew flak from animal lovers and NGOs.

T. Anthony Siva Balan, president of the animal-friendly group Petpositive, said the council had agreed to stop shooting strays and instead use other methods to deal with them.

He said the council would send its officers to Petaling Jaya next week to learn dog-catching methods used by the city council there.

Anthony, a PJ city councillor, said Ipoh was also studying ways to set up an animal pound to keep animals caught in the streets.

He added the Ipoh council would also work with NGOs in dealing with strays.

“A committee set up by the council will discuss methods such as neutering and spaying the animals,” said Anthony, adding that the Ipoh mayor or his representative would visit the 75-year-old owner of Spunk to apologise for the shooting.

Noah’s Ark Ipoh founder and treasurer Dr Ranjit Kaur Mendhir said she was delighted that things had worked out well after the meeting with the council secretary.

Therapy Dog Spunk A Canine Hero Now

Story Courtesy from Petpositive

Therapy Dog Spunk A Canine Hero Now

DATELINE: IPOH, PERAK

ALL IT TOOK WAS FIFTEEN MINUTES.

AND HISTORY WAS CREATED FOR ANIMAL- LOVERS IN THE CITY OF IPOH - ONCE FAMOUS FOR ITS TIN MINE INDUSTRY.

That's the incredibly short time that the Ipoh City Council (MBI) gave the animal and disability rights delegation (that's us!) when we met them yesterday - after making us wait for almost an hour!

However, what we initially thought was going to turn out to be a a disastrous event amazingly worked to our favour when MBI secretary Datuk Abdul Md Ariff started to warm up to our concerns minutes before he left.

He announced the immediate cessation of dog-shooting after we unequivocally expressed our outrage at the shooting-to-death of a therapy dog belonging to an elderly PETPOSITIVE member on October 30th last month.

The groups that were represented at yesterday's meeting were Petpositive from Kuala Lumpur, Independent Living and Training Centre, Rawang, Selangor, SPCA Selangor, Noah's Ark of Ipoh (protem), Ipoh SPCA and Ipoh Animal Welfare Society.

There were three representatives from the Department of Veterinary Services from Perak who played an instrumental role in helping the council to decide on the ban on dog-shooting.

Ipoh, here we come!

The journey to Ipoh from Petaling Jaya began at 7.30 in the morning. Francis Siva from the ILTC (left) and I were worried about our stomachs playing up at the last minute. Fortunately for us, no such disaster happened.

Say "cheese" everybody!

The news-starving cameramen insisted that we take a photo-shoot outside the MBI before our meeting. We cordially obliged not knowing what was going to happen next.

Powwow before the battle

Yours Truly as leader of the group had to make sure we clarified our goals of what we wanted that money. No point in contradicting anyone and confusing the council.

No telling what was going to happen

The arrangement of the discussion table seemed to be something like a war zones. Was worried if there was going to be shouting matches, etc.

Memorandum Handover

Datuk Rahim makes the first move. He walks down from his podium to greet his guests in wheelchairs. We take the opportunity to collectively hand over the memorandum.

The press conference after the meeting

The media couldn't wait to talk to us. We announce the good news - half believing ourselves what we had heard. The MBI responded warmly. Dog-shooting was off. They said they were sorry and would get in touch with the elderly woman who lost Spunk. Amazingly, a stray dog had given his life so that other strays could live on without fear of being brutally murdered.

Lunch with Noah's Ark, Ipoh

Had a terrific Chinese lunch. From left: Malika Ramiah, President of Noah's Ark, Dr Ranjit Kaur (Treasurer) and Francis Siva (Petpositive Adviser and President of ILTC.

"V" is for VICTORY!

Another one for the album outside the Chinese restaurant. (Far left: Vice President of Noah's Ark Jayamalar Jeyaratnam, Noah's Ark animal rescuer Victor (in singlet) and standing second to right, ILTC volunteer.)

At limestone heaven: ISPCA shelter

No victory can be complete if not shared with a special friend. This little pup from the ISPCA is moving on to his new owners soon. We simply couldn't resist the temptation to have him in our picture to make it - and our trip complete.

Monday November 15, 2010

Groups to form animal council

By ISABELLE LAI
isabellelai@thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: Animal welfare groups will come together in Putrajaya on Nov 25 to form a national council to push for the creation of an Animal Welfare Bill.

Petpositive president Anthony Thanasayan said the formation of the council, which was initiated by the Veterinary Services De­­partment, was propelled by the recent shooting of licensed therapy dog Spunk by Ipoh City Council dog catchers.

“Spunk did it all, even in death. He has spurred us to take action and do something to help all the other animals,” he said in an interview here yesterday.

The council will have its first pro tem meeting on that day.

It was reported that 10-year-old Spunk was shot dead after its 75-year-old owner left it unattended for a while to get toilet paper to clean after the animal.

He said the council’s top priority was the creation of the Animal Welfare Bill.

“This will drastically improve the well-being of animals, especially strays or abused ones,” he said, adding that the council’s formation was awaiting approval from the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry.

“I will definitely urge for a special licence to be given to therapy dogs, which forbids dog catchers to grab them off the street or harm them in any way,” said Anthony, who heads the animal-assisted therapy organisation for the disabled and elderly.

He said every aspect of animal care would be discussed by the council, from issues such as slaughtering animals in a humane manner and treatment of livestock to domestic animal care.

Other non-governmental associations taking part in the meeting are the KL Animal Welfare Society, the Ipoh Animal Welfare Society, Noah’s Ark Ipoh and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Ipoh and Selangor.

Anthony said Petpositive and other NGOs would also be meeting with Ipoh City Council officials on Tuesday to present Spunk’s case.

“We will request an end to the shooting of animals and advise the council to implement more educational programmes such as teaching people about responsible pet ownership,” he said.

He added that they would also push for a committee to be formed by the council for canine issues and request that funds be set aside for it to build its own dog pound.

Equal rights for disabled too

Equal rights for disabled too

Saturday, November 13th, 2010

KUALA LUMPUR: The government is commited to ensuring that the disabled enjoy equal rights as normal people, in all aspects of life, including employment and accessibility.

Women, Family and Community Development Deputy Minister Senator Heng Seai Kie said, in all national commitments and government policies, the rights of the disabled to have access to employment were constituted.

She said Article 9 of the Convention on the Rights of the Disabled and Section 29 of the Disabled Persons Act 2008 stated the rights of a disabled person to have access to employment on par with others.

To realise these aspirations and objectives, Heng said numerous strategies and programmes were planned and implemented by the government, which included ensuring the placement of disabled people in the civil service and private sector.

The deputy minister was speaking at the opening of the Asia-Pacific Community Based Rehabilition Convention 2010 here today.

The government through its agencies, has also improved on the support system such as job coaching to ensure the disabled obtain employment and remain employed; enhancing training programmes and financing micro credit to assist the disabled in conducting businesses, and offering tax reduction to employers on the cost of renovation to work premises for disabled employees to encourage the private sector to employ more disabled people.

At the same time, the ministry also provided assistance through the soho (small office home office) programme to encourage the disabled to work from home.

Heng said, organising the inaugural convention which was participated by 31 countries, was in accordance with the Government's commitment to empower the people with the 1Malaysia spirit.