Senior citizen lodges police report against MBPJ dog catchers

A SENIOR citizen has lodged a police report against the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) vector control unit, claiming that one of its officers had been rough towards him during a dog-catching operation.

In the report, lodged at the Brickfields district police headquarters on Friday (March 24), Patrick Khoo, 69, alleged that two MBPJ dog-catching unit enforcement officers came chasing after his pet dogs which he kept at his office at Taman Kanagapuram.

The dog owner tried to intervene and a tussle broke out during the incident at about 9pm on March 22.

Khoo alleged that the dog catcher had swiped the dog-catching loop he was holding against the left side of his (Khoo's) face, which had resulted in him suffering pain until now.

There are CCTV recordings of the incident, said Khoo.

When contacted, Khoo, who owns and manages a lubricant oil supply company, said the dog-catchers had taken away three adult dogs and a puppy.

According to Khoo, he had vaccinated and neutered the dogs he keeps at his office premises.

“They are also bathed regularly,’’ he added.

The CCTV recordings have been posted on social media by a Facebook user.

The post has since raised the ire of animal activists and dog lovers who have raised their hackles over how Khoo and his dogs were treated in the incident.

Meanwhile, MBPJ Department of Health and Environmental Services director Dr V. Chithradavi said that the matter was being looked into.

“We are still in the process of investigating the team and staff members involved. Once ready, we will update accordingly,’’ she added.

MBPJ sends all the canines caught by its dog catching unit to the PAWS Animal Welfare Society in Ara Damansara, Petaling Jaya.

A PAWS representative said MBPJ had sent in three dogs and a puppy on Thursday (March 23).

“We heard about the commotion and expected the dog owner to come over but no one has come to claim the dogs so far," the representative said.