20 strays found poisoned

A sad sight: Ipoh City Council workers removing the carcasses of about 20 poisoned dogs near an eco park in Gunung Rapat, Ipoh.

IPOH: Wong Kee Yuw was heartbroken when he saw the lifeless bodies of about 20 stray dogs that he had been feeding for the past seven years near the Tasik Cermin Eco Park here.

“I do not know who would be so cruel and inhumane to do this to them,” said the former eatery worker.

Wong, 61, said the dogs that he fed every morning had not caused any problems for the factory workers and lorry drivers there.

“Those who work in the area are aware that I feed the dogs every morning.

“I had not heard of any complaints from anyone about the dogs,” he said when contacted.

Pictures of the carcasses being removed by Ipoh City Council workers have gone viral since yesterday morning.

This is the second mass killing of dogs in Ipoh this month.

Just weeks ago, eight dogs were found poisoned near a row of shoplots in Lahat Mines.

In May last year, some 17 strays were found dead at the same site.

There have been accusations that the dogs were poisoned by city council workers.

However, Perak local government committee chairman Datuk Nolee Ashilin Mohammed Radzi denied such allegations.

“We believe the dogs were poisoned by someone else,” she said, adding that the authorities would check on the matter.

“We will not tolerate it if the authorities are doing so,” she told reporters yesterday after attending the soft launch of an eco park yesterday.

Nolee Ashilin said the city council had received reports about the death of the dogs and its workers were there to remove the carcasses.

Ipoh Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA) president Ricky Soong said dog poisoning cases had been occurring quite frequently recently.

“I implore the people not to take matters into their own hands by being so cruel as to poison the animals.

“They can always call the city council if there are problems with stray dogs,” he added.

Soong said that under the Animal Welfare Act, those caught killing animals could be fined up to RM100,000 or face a maximum three years’ imprisonment, or both.

He said ISPCA would continue to work with the city council in handling matters related to stray animals.

“We are working with the city council on the trap-neuter-release-manage programme.

“We hope to get more support from the people towards the programme,” he said.