Currently, there are about 300 dogs and over 50 cats at the ZSM temporary shelter in Kuala Baram.
MIRI: Pet owners are called on to stop abandoning their pets following the outbreak of rabies disease as it could cause even more damage to both the local community and the abandoned animals.
Zero Strays Miri (ZSM) president Sterwina Kho revealed that after the outbreak was declared in Sarawak in September, they had received endless calls from random strangers, informing them of abandoned pets.
“Worse, we received calls from pet owners saying that they wanted to let go of their pets for fear that rabies could affect their family, especially young children.
“During that time, we would take a softer approach such as advising them on the basic knowledge on rabies and how the disease spreads as well as importance of vaccination. Somehow, most of those who wanted to abandon their pet appeared to mistakenly think that every canine or feline is infected with rabies.
“This is a very wrong perception, and we took the educational approach, in hope of reducing the number of abandoned pets. Though some of them refused to accept the explanation from ZSM, about 60 per cent of them actually listened,” said Kho when contacted by The Borneo Post.
As for the abandoned pets, Kho said ZSM would have to rescue them from being left on the street, trying to rehome them at foster/permanent families.
“At times, our volunteers even went beyond our responsibility, by purchasing dog leash and giving them to the pet owners who didn’t know how to handle their own pet.”
On ZSM’s temporary shelter in Kuala Baram, Kho expressed thanks to the government and Assistant Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Lee Kim Shin, who is also the patron of ZSM, for the RM210,000 fund that was handed over to ZSM last week.
“This piece of land was lent to us by a kind person when we were in need of help to relocate all our TNVR (Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate and Release/Rehome) dogs and cats.
“Initially, it was an empty land with no utility but grass and sand only. We then approached Datuk Lee Kim Shin for help, and thereafter were advised to write an official letter appealing for fund from Sarawak government.”
While waiting for the approval, Kho mentioned that ZSM received donations from good people around Miri for the shelter.
Even so, she added, the donations appeared to be insufficient as more was needed to be done for the shelter.
“The initial phase, after the basic utilities like toilet, water piping and awning were installed, had already cost us RM100,000. At the same time, we are struggling to feed the dogs and cats and keeping up with the expensive monthly expenses,” she said.
To date, the shelter had housed 300 stray canines and more than 50 felines which had been neutered, spayed and vaccinated under ZSM’s TNVR programme.
“We are unable to take in more animals, as we are facing a serious shortage of helping hands and resources. It would be of much help if the local community could adopt our strays, giving them a permanent home,” she said, assuring that all strays have gone through six months of quarantine observation period and are declared healthy and vaccinated.
For donation or adoption, ZSM can be reached at its official Facebook page or FB messenger application for swift response from Kho or its committee members.