MBIP to address complaints on strays within 14 days

ISKANDAR Puteri City Council (MBIP) says it takes a serious view on complaints regarding stray animals in its jurisdiction.

It said the council had a target of 14 days to address public complaints on the matter.

“We need to take action by catching the animals fast as it is a matter of public safety, because some of the strays may be aggressive.

“It is also to prevent the spread of diseases such as rabies, besides ensuring the city remains clean and peaceful, ” said the city council in a statement.

Last year, the council received a total of 1,109 complaints about strays.

According to statistics provided by the MBIP Health Department, 1,060 of the complaints were about stray dogs and 49 on stray cats.

The numbers were close to the figures for 2019, which were 1,076 complaints about stray dogs and 38 about stray cats.

However, the figures for 2018 were far lower, with MBIP recording 850 complaints on stray dogs and 11 for stray cats.

MBIP said it did not put to sleep stray animals that were caught; instead it worked with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to house the animals.

“We send them to animal shelters run by NGOs.

“The NGOs will put the animals up for adoption based on the criteria that they have set, ” said the council.

MBIP said it was also working with NGOs to spay and neuter strays to reduce their population.

Despite the movement control order, MBIP doubled the number of animals being spayed and neutered through a collaboration with Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary (Nanas) in Pekan Nenas via its Kembiri programme.

The MBIP Health Department said that some 578 animals, comprising 312 dogs and 266 cats, were sterilised in 2020 under the programme.

“In 2019, we sterilised 114 dogs and 125 cats while in 2018, we were able to sterilise 140 cats, ” it added.