KUCHING: The One-Stop Police Centre at Simpang Tiga has never been so crowded before as a group of 100 animal lovers held placards and protested against the way the State Disaster Management Committee carried out the mass culling of dogs to control the spread of rabies.
Police reports were lodged against the committee for trespassing and shooting dogs in compounds after a video clip went viral recently.
Special Assistant to Chong Chieng Jen, Abdul Aziz Isa, who was with the group said that the committee led by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas should ensure that pet dogs would not be shot in the compounds as it would be encroaching into private properties.
He added that this would
create fear and panic among pet owners who have vaccinated their pets.
Aziz reiterated that he understood the state government’s intention to control the spread of rabies since June 2017 as 18 people have died from the disease and 61 zones have been declared rabies infected.
It appears as if the state government is fighting a losing battle here.
As much as we support the state government’s action to control the rabies outbreak, the committee should reveal their standard operating procedure (SOP) and keep to it without using any unfavourable methods.
This will cause public outrage and open a floodgate to civil suits against the state government.
The local authorities should also take note of the proper way to combat the outbreak in a humane way, he said.
He also explained that he was not against the Department of Veterinary Services as they had been trying their best to vaccinate as many dogs as possible to control the spread of rabies.
