KUCHING: Sarawak’s dog hunters are drowning strays to save costs during their anti-rabies drive in the Kuching-Padawan enclave.
According to sources, the dog shooters, who include council workers and private contractors, have already captured or euthanised the canines and some cats with cruel methods.
Last week, Deputy Chief Minister, Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said the state government had a method of identifying locations suspected to be “black “ areas.
Apparently, Tabuan Jaya has been identified as a “black area” even though there have not been any confirmed cases in this well-to-do enclave which has established institutions such as Lodge National and International Schools and Desa Pines condominium. Other targeted areas are suburbs around Tabuan Jaya, BDC, Stutong, Hui Seng, Green Heights and Airport vicinity.
Uggah said the government would use humane methods to deal with the problem and instead of culling, would compound the animals for a week for testing.
He made this statement after a special meeting with representatives of the Sarawak Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) and Save Our Strays (SOS).
It has been suggested that instead of being killed, the strays should be detained for at least a week and tested before they are euthanised.
Since the first rabies-related fatality on August 18 last year in the Serian area, the state government has culled or killed almost 10,000 strays–many of which were “pets” with legitimate licences.
Even though nine of the 11 of the rabies deaths occurred in the outskirts of Kuching, namely, Serian, Balai Ringin, Gedong, Simunjan and Sri Aman districts, the hunt had been focused in Kuching City where there have been no fatalities. The hunters operate using various methods. Sometimes, the plain clothes hunters work in groups of four workers, making ad hoc visits and shooting at random.
Only after the meeting between the state government, SSPCA and SOS were the animal groups invited to see how the dog hunters operated.
Yesterday, SSPCA chairman, Datin Dona Drury-Wee witnessed the tranquilising of an old mangy stray which residents in Tabuan Jaya had been feeding for several years.
In this case, uniformed dog shooters bound the already tranquilised animal by the feet and dragged it to a council van.
An eyewitness said the dog was “drowned” in a water tank at the old Sarawak Veterinary Department at Mile 9, Jalan Muara Tuang.
The owner, who did not want to be identified in case the council victimised her family, said: “They made us leave our handphones outside. They didn’t want any photo evidence against them. We were there as a last-ditch effort to see if our dog had been captured.
“We thought that dogs were being put down via lethal injections. But what we saw was a water tank inside the premises of the old Veterinary Department which was like a torture chamber.
“There were bloated bodies still in the water. Nearby, in a tank filled with water, there were dogs in the process of being drowned, gasping for breath.”
She said never in Sarawak’s history had there been such a heartless operation to annihilate all the hundreds of thousands of strays in the state.
She said: “I feel I’ve been lied to. They said it would be humane. Instead, they are drowning the dogs. I saw some with collars outside the water tank. They said they wouldn’t touch the PVC collared dogs. But they lied. Liars! “
She feared the hunters, who had the protection of the police, might go after her.
“I can only tell you what I saw. Please don’t tell them who I am. “
Last week in an exclusive interview with the New Sarawak Tribune, Kitty Chin, president of Save Our Strays said:“From the personal reports and our own approximation, we believe that the number killed is at least 10,000 animals, including those which have already been vaccinated against rabies and other diseases.
“This unhealthy and inappropriate action has put fear in members of the public who assumed that the rabies in Sarawak has reached pandemic proportions.”
Kitty said neutering and vaccinations was the answer, not killing.
She added: “From what we have been told, only 2 percent of the culled animals have been tested and shown to be rabies positive.
“Let us assume that the authorities are using tranquilizers (at RM250 per dart) to catch these poor animals and the RM100 lethal injections. It’s not only a waste of money but a very inhumane way of solving the rabies problem.
“Rabies has been endemic in Borneo since time immemorial and been in existence in Borneo’s territories such as Kalimantan, Sabah and Brunei. We all share the same border, but it was only last year we discovered, we had it all the time!”
The “culling without warning” has riled, especially the rural Dayak populace whose livelihood is linked to their hunting dogs, some of whom have been targets of the operation.
Kitty said: “Rabies has been in the world for hundreds of years and in recent times, medical professionals have new methods of curbing the disease.
“We are a developing nation and there is no need for culling and killing. I think our society is not happy with the stand the government has taken.”
