Think thrice before abandoning pets!
Published on: Monday, September 14, 2020
By: Shirley Khong
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Her excuse was that the dogs actually belonged to her mother-in-law who recently passed away of tuberculosis and she, together with her jobless husband and two children had to move to a smaller home due to financial constraints.
She said she was unable to care for the dogs and made the decision to leave them in an abandoned, empty house in Tg Tokong, to fend for themselves. These innocent dogs were not only abandoned by a family they loved and were loyal towards, but were left without any food or water or any means in which to go out and find some sustenance.
Over a prolonged period of time, sadly one of the dogs starved to death whilst the other barely survived.
Abandoning any innocent living being who is solely dependent on their owner is a cruel and callous act and to do so knowing they have no way to help themselves and find food and water, knowing they would die a slow a painful death is truly despicable!
This selfish woman obviously had only one thought in her mind “just get rid of the dogs!”
The woman pled for leniency from the judge, saying the family were struggling financially as her husband had only just found a job and they had to care for and feed their two children.
Thankfully the judge made a good decision based on the woman’s disregard for the animals lives and their suffering
Deputy Public Prosecutor, Roziman Awang Tahrin, told the court that the woman should be made an example of, as a deterrent to other would-be animal abusers who should think carefully before being cruel towards any animal.
The judge agreed with him and made a landmark decision. He fined the woman RM30,000 and ordered the surviving dog to remain in the custody of the Department of Veterinary Services.
The surviving dog has since been nursed back to good health.
All this could have been avoided. The woman could have contacted a dog shelter or even SPCA Penang, to ask for advice or even take in the dogs. We are quite sure that under her circumstances, the shelter would have helped her. Instead she chose the quick and easy solution (for herself) and left the dogs for to fend for themselves with no regard to their well being!
As we have said here many, many times, do not even think of abandoning or doing anything cruel to your pets. Your pets have done nothing wrong. If your cat or dog has babies, it is not their fault. You, as the owner, were not responsible enough to sterilise your pet.
To abandon them and their babies is an act of immense cruelty.
In this day and age there are laws to protect animals! Animals, like humans beings, have feelings but animals are better in the sense that they are loyal, sometimes blindly so!
If you are not prepared to be a responsible pet owner then please do not have a pet!
Do not own a pet on impulse; in other words just because u think a pet looks adorably cute at that moment, and all your friends encourage u to get it, is not a reason to have a pet.
Ask yourself if you’re prepared to spend time, money on vet bills, neutering, etc. So many things to think of. A pet is not just something u have for a moment.
It is a huge lifelong responsibility and sometimes when you are not well or free, you will still have to look after them, as their lives are dependent on you! Yes, it is your responsibility whether you like it or not.
Please do not be cruel to animals! An animal has the right to live a good life as much as u do, maybe even more so as the love they give is unconditional.
If you do not like dogs/cats it’s fine; just do not harm them.
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