KLANG: Two dog feeders in Jerteh, Terengganu, are devastated after the friendly and lovable neighbourhood stray dog they were feeding was allegedly gunned down by the district council. “I have been crying since I heard that Kopi had been shot.
“I have been feeding her daily from the time she was a puppy,’’ said Abby Razali, 27.
Kopi became a celebrity of sorts among dog lovers after Abby uploaded a video of the canine playing with a kitten on the social media platform TikTok in March this year.
“Everyone loved the video and I received many positive comments.
“So, it came as a shock for many when they heard that Kopi had been shot,’’ said Abby.
She added that she would miss seeing Kopi waiting for her every day, as well as going for walks and playing with the dog.
Kopi’s untimely death was also very distressing for a 27-year-old man who had sat with the dog while she was dying after being shot.
The man, who declined to be named, said he had run out of his house after hearing loud explosions at about 1.30am on Oct 7.
“When I was outside my house, I saw a group of men walking past Kopi while she was lying on the road whimpering.
“There was a lot of blood around her but she was still breathing.
“I sat with her until she passed away and it took about five minutes for her breathing to completely stop,’’ said the man, adding that mere words could not describe the heartache he had felt at the moment.
The man, who had also fed and played with Kopi daily, said he had gone emotionally and mentally blank for a while and could not process what had happened.
“It was only on the following day, after realising Kopi was dead, that I started crying.
“Whenever I think of Kopi now and remember her looking at me while whimpering in pain, I cry uncontrollably,’’ he said.
The Veterinary Services Department’s (DVS) head of animal welfare section Dr Marzuna Md Yunus, when contacted, said shooting can only be carried out during emergencies as well as to control diseases such as rabies.
“Dogs can also be shot if they are fierce and have attacked people,’’ she added.
Dr Marzuna said shooting could not be used to curb the stray population if these elements were not present.
Dr Saravanakumar Supramaniam Pillai, who was part of the team which crafted the Animal Welfare Act 2015, said the provisions were clear in the Act regarding the use of firearms to kill street animals.
“If they want to use firearms, they have to get permission from the DVS and even that is only if an area has been gazetted as having a disease outbreak linked to street animals,’’ said Dr Saravanakumar, who retired as a DVS senior deputy director.
He said the law was clear that firearms could not be randomly used to eradicate street animals.
The Besut District Council was not contactable at press time.
