Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) welcomes the proposed amendment to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
Areview and increase of the penalties is long overdue as the content of the current Act is antiquated, limited in scope, provides for totally inadequate penalties and does not contain internationally recognised minimum standards of humane treatment of animals.
Lawmakers, police and magistrates too are not treating animal welfare as a serious social objective. Often sentences meted out do not reflect the gravity of the offence.
The Act needs to be expanded and have a more flexible statutory framework taking into account developments in animal welfare that have occurred since the Ordinance was first adopted in 1953. Agood Animal Act is urgently needed in line with society’s expectations as people are now becoming more sophisticated and educated.
The proposed new legislation should take a fresh look at the pet shops trade, sale of exotics, commercial breeders, backyard breeders, hobby breeders, puppy and kitten mills, abandonment of pets, the putting down of strays, euthanasia and much more.
There is a need to regulate the pet industry which has been allowed to operate unregulated for too long, and the consequences have been unimaginably bad for animals and the environment.
There must be a stop to the mass indiscriminate breeding of cats and dogs by making it illegal, and removing avenues for selling them. The pet industry must be accountable in its dealings with the public and ensure people are prepared for pet ownership.
Laws should be toughened against dog breeders where puppies are produced as "cash crops" with no concern for the health and welfare of either the pups or their mothers. They are often kept in filthy conditions. There are no records from these breeders and if a sick pet is sold in a pet shop, the buyers will never know when or how it became ill. Home-based hobby breeders should also be banned.
On the local councils’ method of eradication of strays, SAM views the current practice of killing dogs as extremely brutal, inflicting pain on helpless animals when there are better available methods. Collection, sheltering and destruction only treats the symptoms of the disease, known as the pet population explosion, but not the root cause.
The problem must be nipped in the bud through education to love animals, neutering schemes and micro-chipping in controlling and preventing stray dogs.
SAM hopes the proposal to amend the Act is an indication of the Department of Veterinary Services’ intention to take matters relating to animal welfare seriously. The Act must be amended quickly with increased penalties for offences after taking into account views and proposals from animal welfare groups.
S M Mohd Idris
President
Sahabat Alam Malaysia
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