Perak MCA questions Ipoh City Council over shooting of dog

IPOH: Perak MCA has questioned the Ipoh City Council on its standard operating procedures (SOP) after its workers shot and killed a stray dog here.

Its Public Service and Complaints bureau chief Low Guo Nan said they were not allowed to do so under the Animal Welfare Act 2015.

"So do the enforcement officers have the licence to kill? It is only proper for the council to explain in detail their SOP to the public now.

"We want to know who gave the orders for the operation to be carried out. I have been receiving so many calls since the video went viral, and I lodged a police report as well," he told a press conference held at the state MCA headquarters here on Friday (May 24).

Low was responding to a viral video of city council enforcement personnel shooting and killing a stray dog at Pengkalan Gate.

Ipoh Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA) president Ricky Soong, who was also present at the press conference, said he had immediately called an enforcement officer who told him that the dog was a nuisance.

He added that some villagers had complained to the council.

Soong said the council officer told him that the dog had been chasing motorcyclists as well as biting goats belonging to the villagers.

"He also informed me that the officers first tried to catch the dog using a net, but the dog ran away.

"For the past two years, we have been working closely with the council for the Trap, Neuter, Release, Manage (TNRM) programme," he said, adding that the officers should not have used such a drastic approach.

An ISPCA volunteer who lives near the area where the incident took place said the population of strays was becoming smaller due to the TNRM programme.

Kevin Ong, 31 from Taman Lapangan said just because the dog was chasing motorcyclists, it was not a valid reason to put the dog down.

"A dog will never chase anyone unless the person had done something to the dog," he said, adding that residents there forked out their own money to feed the dogs there.