IPOH, November 11 — Lawyers for Animal Rights (LAR) wants the Kampar District Council (MPK) enforcement officer who shot stray dogs on November 2 to be charged in court.
Lawyers Rajesh Nagarajan, Sachpreetraj Singh Sohanpal and Anne Marie Siaw in a joint statement said that none of the dead dogs had attacked the officers during the operation to capture strays, as claimed by the MPK.
“A number of residents witnessed approximately four to five officers from the district council driving around in an MPK pickup truck.
“One of the officers was sitting inside the vehicle and from the safety of the vehicle was aiming, shooting and killing the dogs that were fleeing.
“According to the residents, the stray dogs in Taman Kampar Barat are docile, friendly, and most are neutered. None of the murdered dogs had attacked the MPK officers,” they said.
The trio said that eyewitnesses to the incident have since lodged separate police reports against the MPK and its officers.
“LAR strongly denounces the illegal and gruesome shooting of stray dogs and states that the MPK shootings are illegal pursuant to Section 30 of the Animal Welfare Act 2015.
“Any shooting of stray dogs is a blatant contravention of the Act,” it said.
“LAR demands that MPK, police and the Department of Veterinary Services take immediate and decisive action to hold the MPK officers responsible for this heinous crime to be charged in a court of law,” it added.
The lawyers warned MPK that it does not have the legal standing to kill the 24 dogs and that no harm should have befallen them.
Previously, MPK claimed that its enforcement team opened fire to protect themselves from being attacked by the canines that were violent and aggressive during the attempt to capture them.
Council president Abdul Halim Saad that the operation was carried out following complaints from various parties, including West City Management, LDS International Management and Keranji assemblyman’s office, which reported that the strays attacked and bit nearby residents.
He said that the main focus of the operation was to identify and capture the aggressive stray dogs as they were a threat to the public.
He explained that only four dogs were killed, while 24 stray dogs were successfully captured alive in the operation.
