Malaysian animal activists unleash fury towards dogcatchers' 'repulsive' methods

Babu was just eight years old when his dog was killed by overzealous canine catchers in his hometown of Teluk Intan in Malaysia's Perak state, shaping his lifetime defence of animals in a country where attitudes towards dogs have once more been thrust into the spotlight.

"I wasn't far away when they shot him," the animal rights activist, now 38, told This Week in Asia. "I remember it like it was yesterday."

His said his dog Blacky, which did not have a pet licence, was safely inside his family's private premises when the dogcatchers trespassed and shot him.

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To educate people on animal rights, Babu established A Fortress of Fur on Facebook in 2010. Many of the page's 160,000 followers have voiced outrage and disgust at a recent incident that rocked Malaysia's dog-loving community.

On March 13, Patrick Khoo, 69, was injured in a scuffle with dogcatchers appointed by the city council as they tried to capture three dogs at his factory in the city of Petaling Jaya, which borders the capital of Kuala Lumpur.

Khoo alleged he was hit by the men as he defended his dogs from their traps. Videos of the incident have gone viral, drawing anger from Malaysian viewers at the perceived heavy-handedness. The city council has said that it's launching an internal investigation into the incident.

But the situation devolved further after the police announced they were pressing charges against Khoo for obstructing the dogcatchers from doing their jobs - an offence that comes with a two-year prison sentence and fine of up to 10,000 ringgit (US$2,260) if convicted.

Eyewitness Rekha Morgan said the animal control officers in Petaling Jaya had goaded her when she told them to stop, challenging her to file a police report and saying, "we are the government, this is how we do things".

"The prosecutors decided not to charge the officers, who were at fault if you ask me," Rekha said.

Animal-lovers say this was not an isolated incident. Dogcatchers in Malaysia have developed a reputation for also ensnaring pets - like Babu's - instead of actual strays.

In Malaysia, dogs must be registered by their owners with the local authorities or be classed as strays if they happen to venture off of private property.

A survey by animal market research firm PetFair in 2019 found that there were 6 million dogs in Malaysia, with only 398,000 registered as pets.

Significantly more pet cats - 658,000 - were reported in the Muslim-majority nation, where canines are seen as impure.

Khoo's plight has evoked negative memories among animal-lovers of the egregious actions of Malaysia's dogcatchers.

"Dogcatchers unlatched our house gate to let our pets run out, so they could 'catch' unleashed dogs," said activist Lainie Teoh on Twitter.

Her dogs were only released after a family member, who was a lawyer, chased the dogcatchers and threatened them with a lawsuit.

Dogcatching units, part of the local city council's enforcement team, are often deployed to respond to public complaints about unruly stray dogs. Dogs that are caught are impounded and put to sleep if unclaimed after a period of time that varies across local councils.

But activists allege that dogcatchers are paid based on a quota system, which can prompt them to act indiscriminately.

In a rare and extreme case of animal cruelty, Malaysia made international headlines in 2009 when more than 300 stray dogs turned to cannibalism after they were dumped by local officials on a deserted mangrove island and starved for weeks.

Last month, another furore erupted over a video showing municipal workers, employed by a separate council in northern Peninsular Malaysia, using slip nooses on poles to hoist dogs by their necks over a fence before dragging them into cages.

The use of the poles contravened a 2014 protocol issued by the Ministry of Local Government Development that outlined how such operations should be handled, with specific prohibitions against using dog-catching poles to pull, snag, drag or lift the animals.

At least slip-loop snares keep dogs alive instead of shooting them dead, but activist Babu said the tactics remained "repulsive and painful to watch".

"We went from trigger-happy to strangle-happy," Babu said.

Aside from the potential physical injuries, the ordeal can also inflict long-term psychological trauma. "This is why a dog that's caught by dogcatchers will often exhibit behavioural issues associated with trauma even after being rehomed under a new owner," Babu said.

The Petaling Jaya city council did not immediately respond to queries about the incident, but former council member Farhan Haziq Mohamed conceded that the job of regulating stray dogs in Malaysia was fraught with issues, driven by complaints about strays from the public.

"If we do catch, it's an issue," he said. "If we don't, it's also an issue."

Stray dogs often chase food delivery people and children who play outside residential communities. They also sometimes maul pet cats.

"I honestly no longer have sympathy for strays," said pharmacist Fahmi Hassan on Twitter in a discussion about the use of slip-loop snares to catch stray dogs. "I also resent so-called animal-lovers who feed them."

Similarly, Farhan Haziq, a council member at Kajang Municipal Council, said that good Samaritans who fed strays needed to take more responsibility and suggested that they take the animals in as their pets.

"My advice is that it is better to apply for a licence to keep dogs. Don't just feed them but not keep them," he said.

But Farhan also stressed that council-appointed dogcatchers needed to be better behaved and improve their communication skills to avoid getting into arguments with members of the public.

"What happened can be avoided if enforcement officers were more prudent," he said.

Like Farhan, Babu also identified humans as the crux of the issue, and advocated for population control by sterilising strays.

"If catching and killing worked, we wouldn't have this problem today," he said.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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