Killing is not the answer

There are only so many strays that animal shelters can take in. With limited funds and space, most dogs, even healthy ones, are forced to be put to sleep.

TO KILL or to keep? That is the tough question to answer when it comes to strays caught by dog catchers and brought to overcrowded dog pounds in Selangor.

With the population of strays ever on the rise, putting the animals to sleep is, sadly, the standard practice used in an effort to reduce the number of strays on the streets.

Some say that this is a cruel act as dogs and cats are roped around their necks and dragged helplessly into trucks while others applaud this catch-and-kill method.

Abandoned dogs up for adoption at the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) pound in Ampang Jaya.

However, this vicious cycle has not proven effective at all, as seen in the rising number of strays on the street despite efforts by local authorities statewide.

All it has done is to encourage animal cruelty and give a traumatic experience to both animals and animal lovers instead of reducing the population of strays.

To find out the real situation on the ground, StarMetro spoke to local authorities, community feeders and animal welfare organisations to see if there was a long term solution.

Not the only way

“Putting the animal to sleep is cruel but, at the moment, there is nothing else we can do because we receive too many strays and we do not have the space,” said Paws Animal Welfare Society (Paws) shelter manager Edward Lim, who currently has more than 500 strays at the shelter now.

He added that adoption rates had dropped over the years from more than 50% to below 30% and strays were coming in faster than they were leaving.

It may be a bitter pill to swallow but until the society becomes more responsible and neuters their pets, the number of strays will only increase, he said.

“Animal complaints, which I believe are made up of 90% stray problems, ranked the top five complaints received by the Public Complaints Bureau,” Lim said, adding that this was a serious issue that was growing out of control.

On average, dogs can produce between one to three litters a year with each pregnancy bearing as little as three to as many as 15 puppies, based on the dog’s breed and size.

Cats, on the other hand, can produce up to three litters a year, with two to eight kittens each time depending on the size and breed as well.

So catching and killing is not an effective method and Lim believes that neutering or spaying is the key, coupled with good enforcement.

He further urged the authorities to implement multi-tier licensing where neutered pets can get the licence at a discounted rate.

“Catch-and-kill is not the answer to reducing strays because killing is despicable and it does not really bring down the population of strays,” Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) Selangor chairman Christine Chin Radford said.

Even vets who are animals lovers avoid putting a perfectly healthy animal to sleep unless there is no choice.

In this country, only medically certified professionals are allowed to put animals to sleep at a cost, which is why most dog catchers opt to kill strays in inhumane ways.

“People have complained to us about dogs being beaten to death by dog catchers at the cemetery at night,” she said.

There have also been complaints about dog catchers poisoning the strays by tossing chicken laced with poison onto the streets for them to eat.

When they die, dog catchers will collect the carcasses and drop them off at some local authorities that award a fee for every stray caught, dead or alive.

Some even leave the dogs and cats caught in the trucks to starve to death before claiming the award.

Meanwhile, Trap-Neuter-Release-Manage (TNRM) founder and president Stuart Tan suggested that dog pounds belonging to the local authorities be transformed into adoption facilities rather than just a holding ground before putting the animals to sleep.

“It’s killing two birds with one stone. A neutering programme can be carried out easily there and the animals will have a shelter while waiting for adoption or die naturally.

“We are more than happy to work with the respective authorities if they are willing to help us deal with strays in a humane way,” said Tan.

On the other hand, a community feeder in Petaling Jaya urged the government to allocate a piece of land for stray dogs and cats in a bid to get them off the street.

“I don’t understand why people want to kill strays as it is really cruel, why not just let them live as they are,” the community feeder who only wanted to be known as Lim said.

Community feeders are animal lovers who practice responsible stray feeding and neutering for the strays in their respective neighbourhoods.

He added that this stray sanctuary can be supported and run by local feeders and be funded by the state and local governments who already have a budget for dog catching yearly.

Dumping ground

In Ipoh, there is a piece of land which doubles as a dumpsite and a dog dumping ground.

Known as the Papan landfill along the Ipoh-Lumut highway, dog catchers contracted by the local council dump the strays there as they do not have a pound or a place to keep the strays caught.

“We hope that at least proper fencing can be installed so we can feed the animals properly and neutering will also be much easier.

“With no food and water, they are left to die a slow death or end up being roadkill when they run out onto the highway right beside it,” Kiko’s Food Bank founder Alicia Tan said.

To address this, Tan proposed that the state government and local authority channel dog catching funds to support neutering programmes run by animal shelters instead.

She added that enforcement should raise awareness on the benefits of neutering and make it compulsory for all pet owners to neuter their pets.

In line with this, Noah’s Ark Ipoh representative Dr Ranjit Kaur Mendhir is working closely with the authorities in Ipoh to secure a plot of land for strays to be homed.

“We are in the process of requesting for land to shelter the dogs so we and other NGOs can carry out feeding and neutering there. It’s a win-win solution for both parties,” said Dr Ranjit, who is also the spokesman for animal welfare organisations in Ipoh and deals with the local authority.

PetFinder.my founder Andy Koh added that decreasing the number of strays via neutering methods will only work if the community is tolerable and proper enforcement is in place.

“I hope everyone can work together towards a kinder country as the authorities are not the only party involved in reducing the number of strays as the community is too,” he said.

Willing to help

Currently, most local governments already have an annual budget set aside for catching strays, which can be channelled towards supporting local feeders, fund neutering programmes or even NGOs running the piece of land for strays.

“I think this is a good idea and should be supported by the state government. A few local authorities can share the same plot of land and put the dogs there rather than killing them,” Selayang municipal councillor Yew Jia Haur said.

The Selayang Municipal Council has its own pound, where strays are kept for two weeks before being put to sleep if no one claims them.

“We have our in-house dog catching team that uses rope to catch the dogs,” he said, adding that MPS had received complaints about dog catchers entering house compounds without permission to catch licensed dogs.

In an effort to minimise killing strays, MPS has made it compulsory for all mixed breed dog owners to spay or neuter their dogs as part of a requirement for licence application.

This has been going on for five years now and MPS only targets mixed breeds because their study showed that pure breeds are rarely allowed to roam the streets.

“Neutering is definitely the way to reduce strays. MPS had even tried hiring an in-house vet to spay and neuter strays,” he said, adding that the plan never took off due to budget constraints.

Yew further explained that they preferred not to catch strays but at the same time, they cannot ignore public complaints.

Cats at Paws are ready for adoption as they have been vaccinated and neutered.

The Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) is in a similar position, councillor Sean Oon said, adding that it would be held responsible if a public complaint about strays was not attended to.

“As much as we can, we try not to catch strays because after catching it, we can only send it to Paws,” he said.

Oon agreed that there were few humane methods to catch strays as it was not easy and the strays could also attack the dog catchers.

MBPJ also has a group of in-house dog catchers and many of them have been bitten by strays numerous times.

“It is also not easy to catch them safely because when they are under a vehicle, we cannot see if the rope goes around them properly or not,” said Oon.

Last year, MBPJ caught more than 800 dogs and 200 cats, which were sent to Paws at a cost of RM25 per stray. This year, the cost increased to RM30 per stray.

Another council that sends its strays to Paws is the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA).

“We will hold the strays for a while at our temporary detention centre for animals for owners to claim them before sending to Paws,” said MBSA corporate communications head Shahrin Ahmad.

At MBSA, their strays are caught by officers from the health department and also a third-party contractor.

The Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ), however, stopped sending strays to SPCA since 1994 and instead puts the animals to sleep on its own.

Last year, MPAJ caught 1,548 dogs and this year, to date, have caught another 103 dogs.

Without a proper neutering plan in place or a land to house the strays, dogs and cats will continue reproducing at a rate faster than they can be caught and put to sleep.