Weak End Up As Meat : The Malay Mail, May 6th 2009

LUCKY: A dog being rescued at Pulau Tengah last Saturday

Abandoned strays starving to death, cannibalising on each other

IT is time to right the wrong done to man’s best friend. A month after news surfaced that hundreds of stray dogs were abandoned on three deserted islands off Pulau Ketam by frustrated villagers there, various animal welfare groups have been making plans to rescue these canines.

But if they are going to give them a second chance at life, they will need to act fast. It was reported that villagers were desperate for a humane solution to their years-long stray dog dilemma.

They thought that by putting them on the islands nature would provide them ample food and a vast space to roam about uninhibited.

They would also be out of reach of the Klang Municipal Council dog-catchers and therefore out of danger of being put to sleep.

However, the island proved to be no sanctuary for these unfortunate dogs. To date, it is claimed that more than half of the 300 dogs left on one of the islands, Pulau Tengah, have died.

CHOICELESS: Strays on Pulau Selat Kering are eating each other to stay alive

The rest are suffering from starvation or dehydration. Worse still, on Pulau Selat Kering, dogs were found to be attacking and cannibalising each other (read accompanying story).

Hearing about the dogs’ plight led one citizen to take action. Furry Farm Friends principal Sabrina Yeap decided to launch a rescue mission.

Together with blogger TV Smith, the Sungai Limau headman, identified only as Tan, and his relative, they visited Pulau Tengah last Saturday expecting to find “only skeletons and carcasses”.

While an unknown number of dogs were still alive, Yeap said she was saddened by what she saw.

LETS SAVE THEM: Yeap’s rescue poster depicting one of the dogs abandoned at Pulau Tengah

“We were able to rescue one seven-month-old bitch from the island that day. As she was too dehydrated and scrawny, we could not vaccinate her immediately as we needed to provide her with psychological therapy due to the trauma she had undergone on the island.”

Luckily, Yeap reported that the dog, subsequently named Happy, has begun wagging her tail and was discharged from the veterinary clinic on Monday.

Happy is now Yeap’s rescue mission mascot. She aims to educate the villagers on animal welfare as well.

In only a day after launching her bid to rescue the dogs yesterday, Yeap said her team was able to collect RM5,000. They aim to collect another RM5,000 before the first rescue trip sets off this Saturday.

While the Sungai Limau settlement has yet to transport any of its strays to any of the islands, as done by this Pulau Ketam village, it was planning to do so.

They have since scrapped the plan and are now helping Yeap to save the animals instead.

“In fact, when he (the headman) saw the situation on the island himself, he was in tears.

“In return for his help, we have promised to remove at least 20 dogs from Sungai Limau, on top of the dogs we will rescue from the island.”

She assured that dogs rescued from Pulau Tengah would be sterilised, vaccinated and dewormed.

Funds are needed to hire a boat to and from the island, for cages and vet fees, among others.

_{Taken from The Malay Mail, May 6, 2009 : Weak End Up As Meat}