SEBERANG PERAI, Sept 28 — Penang has not recorded new cases of canine rabies infection beyond the previous three, said Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

The Penang lawmaker said the state has so far euthanised about 600 stray dogs ever since the culling operation started on September 16 after the first case of rabies was detected here.

“So far, there are no other new cases other than the reported three. We are hopeful that we can contain the rabies from spreading,” he said in a press conference after the official opening of GEMS International School of Pearl City here.

Lim today again denied that photos of dogs being cruelly shot, as seen on blogs and social media, were those from the culling exercise here.

He stressed that the state uses a humane method to kill the stray dogs, which is to euthanise the dogs through injection.

“I want to remind the animal activists not to spread false information about how we cull the stray dogs as we use humane methods and we do not shoot the dogs as claimed in the photos spread,” he said.

“Other states may use other methods but we use the humane method which is why we can only cull about 600 dogs as compared to around 2,000 dogs in Perlis and Kedah,” he said.

He also stressed that the culling exercise was only targeted at strays and not pet dogs.

Canine rabies was first detected in Perlis in August, and culling exercises started in Perlis and later Kedah before Penang followed suit in the middle of the month.

This outraged various animal groups and activists, who heavily criticised the state government for its decision in culling the animals instead of opting for mass vaccination.

The groups insisted that mass vaccination is more effective in containing the disease but the state has responded that the country is short of vaccines so it was unable to conduct mass vaccination.

So far, those who were bitten by rabid dogs, 13 people in three states, have been given vaccinations and are under close observations.

None of the victims have tested positive for rabies.