RM55 for Every Stray Dog Caught

Stray dogs are so rampant throughout the world that sooner or later, you’ll come face to face with one or more on a daily basis. Recently, a photo of a pamphlet entitled “Kempen Kawalan Anjing Liar”, which translates into “Stray Dog Control Campaign” has been going viral on social media since yesterday afternoon.
The pamphlet offers a reward of RM55 to anyone for every dog they capture, provided it’s brought into the council alive. Tunku Idris Iskandar Sultan Ibrahim Ismail of the Johor royal family and known animal lover received news of this flyer floating around. He reprimanded the Pasir Gudang Council for the brochure saying, “You don’t just go around and put dogs down.” He mentioned that the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) existed for a purpose.
The Johor prince called this act “very disrespectful” in his Instagram account as Tunku Aminah, his elder sister, is the patron for Johor SPCA.

Syed Azmi Alhabshi, the man known for organising the “I Want To Touch A Dog” event in 2014 said if the local council had so much money to give out, it should have looked for a better and more benevolent ways of handling strays such as:

• Using the money to educate people on the importance of neutering their dogs so there won’t be too many strays out there.
• The strays should be neutered and released. In fact, government can neuter the dogs for less than the reward money RM55 promised.
• Take the dog to a vet or a shelter to verify if it's a missing dog, then decide if you want to foster the dog or surrender it to SPCA.

Alhabshi further mentions that “killing them (strays) is unnecessary. That wasn’t a thought-through decision”. Giving monetary rewards for strays would only lead to a frenzy, where the public would be rushing to catch dogs and bring them in. It would become a sort of “game” or contest for these individuals to catch the most dogs.
Wani Mutthiah, founder of the animal rescue group Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better, pointed out that this situation occurred as dogs were a component under every local council’s vector department, which is the same department that monitors rats and mosquitoes. Dogs are seen as prospective pets and shouldn’t be pigeon-holed in the same department as diseased pests like rats and cockroaches.
Finding these stray dogs new homes should be our priority and enlightening people on how to prevent the spread or upsurge of stray dogs humanely.