The female stray was rescued by concerned feeders after she was spotted with a 5cm three-headed hook caught in her mouth.
KUCHING: The Animal Welfare Act 2015, passed in Parliament last Wednesday, could not come soon enough in response to heightened public awareness and increasing cases of animal abuse nationwide.
For Sarawak, it means one big step closer to putting it into effect here.
Sarawak Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) chairperson Dona Drury-Wee said yesterday that the Bill had to be gazetted before Sarawak could table and adopt it.
Wee showing the police report on animal abuse after filing it yesterday.
She was speaking to The Borneo Post yesterday after lodging a police report at the Tabuan Jaya Police Station on their latest animal abuse case.
On June 6, a female stray dog was found at Lorong Setia Raja 4E4 in Taman Casa Marbella here with a triple-pronged hook embedded in her right gum and pierced through her lower jaw.
Concerned feeders (community members who feed strays in their neighbourhoods) brought her to a veterinarian clinic for medical attention. The dog was severely dehydrated and weak.
According to the veterinarian’s report, the hook measured five centimetres long and was attached to a thick nylon string, suggesting it was not intended to catch fish.
SSPCA will be pursuing this under the Veterinary Public Health Ordinance, 1999, under Part VIII, Section 73(1)(g), which carries a fine not exceeding RM2,000 or imprisonment not exceeding six months or both.
Anyone with information about this incident can email them at [email protected] or message them through their official Facebook Page.
Wee added that this was not the first dog in that area that was seen with a hook in its mouth.
However, the other dog managed to dislodge the hook.
The hook had to be cut from the dog’s jaw.
In 2012, a 55-year-old shop assistant pleaded guilty to killing five puppies. His one-month jail sentence enraged local animal lovers for being insufficient for the crime.
However, the case managed to achieve two ‘firsts’ – the first case of animal abuse to be successfully prosecuted in Sarawak, and the first case of animal abuse in Malaysia to receive a one-month jail sentence.
Prior to this, cases prosecuted in Peninsular Malaysia got no more than three days of jail time, or none at all.
The Animal Welfare Act 2015 proposes a minimum fine of RM20,000 and a maximum fine of RM100,000 and imprisonment of up to three years or both for the first offence for offences under the act, including victimising animals, killing by shooting without reasonable cause, poisoning and animal fighting trade.