KUCHING: Kuching Divisional Veterinary officer Dr Nicholas Jenek has confirmed that the dog belonging to Queennie Cheng had been put to sleep.
According to him, all dogs sent to the state Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) are meant to be put to sleep.
He said DVS would have no reason to keep the dogs that were sent to its laboratory by the local councils.
“I don’t know how the 48-hour window for owners to claim their dogs came about. If the local councils wanted to keep the dogs they caught for 48 hours, especially those dogs with licence tag, it’s up to them.
“But dogs sent to our lab are meant to be put to sleep. We do not keep them for 48 hours for dog owners to claim,” he said when contacted yesterday.
“Dogs caught in areas that have been declared as rabies positive will be put to sleep,” he said, adding that Cheng’s dog was captured from a rabies-infected area.
He said dog owners whose pets had bitten another animal but did not want their pets to be taken away, would be advised to keep the dogs within their house compounds for 14 days.
He stressed that the dogs must be put into cages under strict supervision of the owners.
He added that a dog would die within 14 days if it was rabid.
On Cheng’s dog, Dr Nicholas said it was a mix breed of Bull Mastiff and Pitbull. Under the Malaysian law, Bull Mastiff is a restricted breed, while Pitbull is a banned breed.
To a question, he said he had checked with his men who informed him that the photograph of Cheng showing the officer the other day did not appear to be the same dog that DVS had put to sleep.
“It didn’t seem to be the same dog. The head of the dog that we put to sleep weighed 14kg,” he added.
Dr Nicholas also confirmed that the department had lodged a report with the police yesterday, requesting the men in blue to help them monitor pet owners.
He said the purpose of the police report was to remind pet owners to keep their pets within their house compounds at all times, particularly during the rabies outbreak.
“It is not against any pet owner – we just want all pet owners to keep their pets inside the house compound all the time.
“This is required under Section 37 and 38 of the Veterinary Public Health Ordinance 1999. Even if their pets are vaccinated and have passed the 28 days of quarantine, pet owners are still required to keep their pets within the house compound,” he added.
Section 37(2) of the Ordinance reads: ‘No person shall take any dog out of a rabies-infected area except in accordance with a written permit issued by the State Veterinary Authority’.
Section 38(1) of the same Ordinance reads: ‘Where the State Veterinary Authority or any authorised person reasonably suspects that any animal may be infected with rabies or has been exposed to rabies infection, it may in its discretion either cause the animal to be destroyed forthwith or may order the owner or person in charge of such animal to take it forthwith to an animal quarantine station for detention and observation’.
Section 38(6) of the same Ordinance says that any person who fails without reasonable cause to comply with Section 38(1), shall be liable to a fine not exceeding RM1,000.