The Malaysian Insight

ANIMAL rights groups and non-governmental organisations are concerned about Malaysia’s rate of animal abuse after a video of a man in Kampung Kepulau in Kelantan spray painting his pigeons to make the more attractive to customers went viral.

Boey Suet Yee of Sustainable Malaysia Association asked whether the authorities are effective in curbing the mistreatment of animals.

“The Animal Welfare Act 2015 has a provision that cruel conduct towards animals can be fined or imprisoned or both. Despite this legal provision, animal abuse continues to occur,” she said.

“More effort is required to raise public awareness to curb animal cruelty. We urge the authorities, especially the police, to take this matter seriously and act accordingly,” she said.

Boey said spray paint might be toxic to animals and increasing sales through such cruel acts towards animals is unacceptable.

She said animal abuse cases are becoming more rampant in the country and cited a report last year where a dog was spray painted to resemble a tiger.

“The cruelty has drawn public ire, especially from animal rights activists,” she said.

Boey said according to the director of the enforcement unit of the Department of Veterinary Services (JPV) Zaharinan Abd Aziz, there were 276 complaints of animal cruelty and negligence received from January to September 2021.

Asther Lau from Damansara Perdana Strays Rescue also raised concerns of animal abuse being normalised in Malaysia.

Like Boey, he said, animal abuse and exploitation have been a common issue in the country.

He said this is due to a lack of enforcement of animal protection laws. He added that even with the presence of the existing laws, it is still hard for offenders to get prosecuted because the laws are interlaced with each other and have many grey areas.

The incident of the painted pigeons had also caught flak online.

A veterinarian, Salehatul Khuzaimah Mohamad Ali conveyed her concerns on social media that the methods used to create the novelty pets were a danger to the avian animals.

“Did you know? Any strong scent, in this case, the smell of spray paint is really strong and is dangerous to the birds!” she said.

“We might not know of the damage that happens (to the birds) internally. Maybe they don’t die immediately, but what about the internal damage that happens?” Salehatul said.

She said that the trend would not have become so popular if there wasn’t a demand. – February 2, 2022.