LETTER | Is charging elderly man in dog-catching fracas necessary?

LETTER | Genuine lovers are a special breed of people who would willingly put their necks out for the sake of their beloved animals.

In the event their pets’ lives are in danger, they will fight tooth and nail to protect and prevent anything untoward from happening to them.

They do this because of love.

That is exactly what 69-year-old Patrick Khoo did when several Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) dog catchers gave chase to catch his beloved pet dogs at about 9pm on March 22.

Unfortunately, Khoo’s love for his dogs and his desperation to save them resulted in him being dragged to court and charged with an alleged misdemeanour.

The senior citizen is scheduled to be charged under Section 186 of the Penal Code for obstructing officers from carrying out their duties on Fri.

This was disclosed by Petaling Jaya OCPD Asst Comm Mohamad Fakhrudin Abdul Hamid and quoted in several media articles.

The turn of events has raised the ire and hackles of animal lovers, and non-animal lovers alike, who believe the elderly man is being treated unjustly.

CCTV footage and videos of the sordid incident uploaded on social media clearly show a fracas as the dogcatchers push their way through to get Khoo’s dogs.

In the scuffle, the metal handle of a dog-catching loop, held by one of the dogcatchers, is seen hitting Khoo in the face.

Khoo has apparently lodged a police report as well as obtained a medical report from the Kuala Lumpur Hospital pertaining to the injury he suffered to his face in the incident.

Netzines speaking up for Khoo are demanding that the authorities look into the report he lodged against the council dogcatchers and initiate the appropriate action against them.

Following the incident, Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung also urged MBPJ to explain the actions of its officers for allegedly treating the senior citizen roughly.

Subsequently, the dogcatchers took away three dogs and a puppy belonging to Khoo and the way the dogs were dragged away was truly heartbreaking. It must have been a truly traumatic sight for Khoo.

The burning question now is whether the dog catchers or an officer from MBPJ’s enforcement unit could have just compounded Khoo instead of creating such a ruckus and dragging his dogs away?

Local council dog-catching teams are generally perceived as big bullies and aggressors by members of the public and this turn of events only stands to strengthen that assumption.

Not only that, but the poor conditions of council dog pounds are also one of the foremost reasons why animal lovers and pet owners shudder even at the thought of the already stressed-out dogs being thrown in there.

Who could forget the recent incident at the Kuala Langat Municipal Council dog pound where dozens of dogs were found to be starving with several of them literally dropping dead?

All this only contributed to the existing phobia against local council dog-catching activities and that is why dog owners and rescuers end up fighting tooth and nail to prevent them from being caught.

I know this for a fact as I have been rescuing dogs since 2008 after writing about a canine caught and brutalised by several local council dogcatchers.

Hopefully, someone in authority will read this and seek for the charges against Khoo to be dropped, simply because it is preposterous to drag a defenceless old man to court just because he loved his pets unconditionally and tried his utmost best to protect them.

It would be a crying shame to see Khoo in the dock over the incident.

It is also time for the government of the day, and for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, to direct the local councils to seek a more humane method of dealing with street animals that would be in line with the Malaysia Madani agenda.

Coming to the handling of street dogs, the best option would be to implement the trap-neuter-release-manage method which has proven its efficacy in Istanbul, Turkey.

Street dogs there are neutered and vaccinated as well as fed daily, and they (the dogs) can be seen contently basking in the parks in Istanbul as there isn’t a need for them to roam around looking for food. 

Local councils here could also look at their counterparts in Chennai, Tamilnadu, which with the help of the Blue Cross (the animal equivalence of the Red Cross), neuter and release dogs that are caught by the council dog catchers.

There are many rescue groups that would willingly help out as they have already been neutering and caring for street dogs for over a decade.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.