KUCHING: Save Our Strays (SOS) Kuching has called on Kuching City South (MBKS) Mayor Dato James Chan for clarification regarding an earlier statement on stray dogs in Chinese and Malay medium newspapers.
According to the email sent by SOS yesterday, they had picked up on Chan’s statements in Chinese and Malay medium papers which said “To reduce the strays, do not feed strays”, raising much ire among animal lovers and members of the public with a soft spot.
They also wished to ask Chan to rephrase his statement to avoid public misunderstanding and false alarms which may cause certain members of the public to be fearful of dogs and strays.
However, SOS commended Chan on his statement in The Borneo Post on Aug 18 which urged the public to neuter their dogs, but highlighted his quote which read: “I hope sympathetic people who feed stray dogs would consider taking them in and taking care of them”, which highlights the MBKS council law of having three dogs in each house or premises.
They cited that the law made it impossible – a catch-22 situation of inevitable conflict arising – for people who feed strays to take them in, as MBKS would take the dogs and send them to shelters if they exceeded the quota, and would be put to sleep after 48 hours if unclaimed.
SOS also referenced the Trap, Neuter, Release/Rehome (TNR) programme practised in most parts of the world to effectively curb stray overpopulation, and expressed their sincerest wish to meet with Chan to explain further regarding the programme and cooperate towards effective TNR.