Article:Stray dogs shipped off to an island

Thursday April 9, 2009

RESIDENTS of Pulau Ketam turned dogcatchers recently, to help curb the stray dog population on their island.

The residents, mostly fishermen, had built contraptions to trap the dogs that were then sent to a nearby-uninhabited island.

According to village head Cha Keng Lee, the residents had written to the Klang Municipal Council (MPK) alerting them about the large number of strays on the island.

Helpless: Some of the trapped dogs awaiting to be transported to Pulau Tengah.

“The MPK councillor in charge of Pulau Ketam used the money allocated to his service centre on the island to fund the dog- catching project,’’ said Cha adding that residents were paid RM10 for a big dog, RM8 for a medium-sized dog and RM5 for a small dog that they managed to trap.

Cha claimed the money was used to build the traps as well as transport the dogs to the uninhabited island known as Pulau Tengah.

He added about 400 out of the estimated 2,000 stray dogs in Pulau Ketam were trapped and sent to the island last month alone.

When asked if they would be able to survive on the island, Cha said there were a lot of food source on the island such as fish, crabs, lizards, snakes and wild boar.

He said the dogs were sent to the island to prevent them from being destroyed by the MPK.

When contacted MPK councillor in charge of Pulau Ketam Tee Beng Lee said residents had in the past caught and sent dogs to another island, which was nearer to the main island than Pulau Tengah.

“But the dogs kept swimming back and that is why they are being sent to an island which is quite a distance from Pulau Ketam,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, independent animal rescuer Leigh Chen said even though the residents were humane in not wanting to destroy the strays, their action was only a temporary solution.

“There has to be a mass sterilisation exercise of these dogs to prevent them from multiplying,’’ said Chen when contacted.

She added the villagers must also be advised to neuter their own dogs.

“The island headman and MPK must contact the animals shelters and work with them to pull off the mass sterilisation exercise.

“Only then can the problem of strays on the island be solved,’’ she added.

This article was taken from: The Star Online: Metro: Central 9 April 2009