LETTER | Mass dog deaths in Penang and global scourge of canine parvovirus

LETTER | Mass deaths of stray dogs in Penang that were widely reported in news and social media in April and July 2024 have rattled the nerves of dog lovers.

Twent-nine stray dogs were found dead in Island Glades between March and April and another 27 stray dogs in Tanjung Bungah in July.

In both cases, plastic bags of food and water containers were found near the carcasses and immediately suspicions were raised by concerned residents that they were poisoned. A few birds were also reportedly found dead close to the locations of the dead dogs.

Penang Island City Council (MBPP) officers met residents in both localities to listen to their concerns. The Penang Veterinary Services Department (PVSD) was requested to investigate both incidents. PVSD later reported that tests carried out by the Chemistry Department found no traces of poison in the food and water containers.

Autopsies on the dead dogs could not be conducted because the dog carcasses had already been disposed of or burned by the complainants.

Despite the absence of any evidence, the Tanjung Bungah Residents Association continued to insist that the dogs were deliberately poisoned by a serial dog killer.

The unidentified serial dog killer was also blamed for the deaths of two pet dogs in the locality.

The first pet dog was a Siberian Husky that died not long after the owner had taken it for a walk in the neighbourhood. The husky reportedly did not consume any discarded food in the area but was said to have “sniffed” and “licked” the grass.

The second pet dog was a Belgian Malinois which convulsed violently and died some time after sniffing and licking the grass in the neighbourhood following one of its daily walks with its owner.

My heart-rending experience

I would not immediately dismiss the possibility that the two spates of mass dog deaths could indeed have been the deed of a psychopathic dog hater.

However, the poisoning theory had already been mostly negated by chemical analysis. As such, I would like to raise an alternative possible cause from a previous heart-rending experience.

Some years ago, my two daughters who were then in their teens had an English Cocker Spaniel named Bonnie which was fed exclusively on premium dog kibbles and trained never to eat any discarded food. For its toilet routines, my girls would take it out for walks in the neighbourhood.

One day, Bonnie suddenly lost its appetite, refused to eat and became lethargic. The next day, it suddenly had several bouts of vomiting and diarrhoea. I can still vividly remember the unusually foul smell of the faecal material which was covered with blood. Soon it started convulsing violently.

I then asked one of my girls whether Bonnie had eaten any discarded food in the neighbourhood during the dog walks. She replied that it had sniffed at dog excrement that it encountered but had not eaten anything.

I immediately took Bonnie to a nearby veterinarian clinic. The vet noticed the dog's runny and bloody stools and sounded out his suspicion that the cause was canine parvovirus (PVC) but that he would have to conduct a test to confirm it. At the same time, he would ward the dog overnight and try to save its life.

The following morning, the vet called me to inform me that after a long struggle overnight, Bonnie had succumbed to the virus and died. With a heavy heart, I went over to the veterinarian clinic to pay the bill and collect the dog's remains.

The vet told me that the test confirmed that the cause of death was indeed PVC and that it would be best to cremate the dog's remains because the virus is highly contagious and has a fatality rate of about 50 percent in unvaccinated dogs. He told me that if only I had the dog vaccinated against the virus, the vaccine would have given it a high degree of protection.

PVC

I did some further research on PVC, commonly referred to as parvo. The virus attacks the dog's internal organs and intestines causing septicemia, vomiting, haemorrhagic diarrhoea, shock, as well as convulsions and often death within a period of 48-72 hours.

PVC is highly contagious because it is present in the fluid discharges of infected dogs, especially in their faeces. Dogs are territorial animals and instinctively smell the faeces of other dogs to check for territorial intrusions and are thus extremely likely to inhale the virus.

PVC cannot infect humans but ironically humans can infect dogs with the virus. This happens if we inadvertently pick up infected dog excrement under our shoes while out walking or in our car tyres while driving and our dogs sniff them on our return home.

To stop the spread of the virus, it is best to vaccinate all dogs against PVC, a course of action that MBPP should consider under its Trap, Neuter and Release (TNR) Programme.

My theory is the two spates of mass dog deaths in Penang were caused by PVC. But what about the dead birds? PVC is species-specific and thus does not affect birds. It is possible that the birds could have died from bird flu, which is endemic in isolated populations.

That the two spates of mass deaths of dogs in Penang were caused by PVC is not bizarre or far-fetched because there have been several outbreaks over the past few years in many countries like the USA, UK and Australia.

An outbreak of PVC in Latrobe Valley in Victoria, Australia in March 2024 was reported to have killed 10 pet dogs. In the said report, it was stated that PVC infected a staggering 20,000+ dogs per year in Australia in 2015 and 2016, with a fatality rate of about 50 percent.

In other parts of the world, when dogs die amass, suspicion is immediately cast on deadly canine diseases and evidence of such is collected but for some reason in Malaysia, the finger is always pointed at serial dog poisoners despite any evidence at all.

The hysterical outcry against the serial dog killer bogeyman in Penang continues unabated. A prominent consumer association recently urged the local authorities to take action against the unidentified serial dog killer based entirely on hearsay accounts without any hard evidence.

What greatly worries me is some innocent stray dog feeder may one day be mistaken for the alleged serial dog killer and be attacked by an enraged mob taking the law into their own hands.

Instead of relentlessly barking up the wrong tree (no pun intended), concerned dog lovers should collect the remains of dead dogs so that PVSD can carry out autopsies to test for the presence of both poison and canine parvovirus to rule out one or the other. Only by doing so can a solution be found for the vexing matter.

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