A screengrab from a CCTV footage of the black dog biting the leg of one of the stall operators. – Screengrab via WhatsApp
KUCHING (May 3): The rabid dog, which is believed to have bitten nine people here before it was caught on Sunday, did not exhibit any unusual behaviour before it started sinking its teeth into its victims, a witness said.
The operator of a stall at a food court in BDC, where the black dog had bitten two people, said it and several other dogs had strayed into the area several months ago and they had been generally tame.
“Usually we just let them be as they had never attacked anyone, but on that Sunday morning the black dog bit the leg of one of the stall operators. We told him to immediately go to the hospital for a checkup, and he is now still recovering.
“Prior to the incident, the dog did not show any unusual or aggressive behavior indicating that it had rabies, but after that it continued to bite three other people in the area as well as the chairs at our shop,” said the food operator, who wanted to be identified as Ling.
Indeed a closed circuit television camera footage shared by Ling, showed the dog lying near tables filled with people and suddenly biting a man as he was walking past.
Ling said the Kuching City South Council was alerted to the attacks and they had also contacted Save our Strays Kuching (SOS) for help to capture the dog but the non-profit organisation said they did not receive any such instruction from the local authority to do so.
In this regard, she hoped that MBKS could give some autonomy to SOS so that they do not have to wait for instructions from the council before catching any dogs suspected to be infected with rabies.
“Our intention is not to make matters worse, but we hope to be able to help reduce the risk of getting infected by rabies.
“Such incidents can happen to anyone and we are concerned about our children, the elderly and those with low immune systems. Nobody wants such an incident to happen to them,” she added.
Ling had claimed that MBKS was alerted to the incident on Sunday afternoon via the council’s WhatsApp hotline number, 0168796441, but only received a reply at about 7am the next day that the case would be channeled to the officer in-charge.
“We later learnt that the dog had bitten up to nine victims yesterday, and it was confirmed to have been tested positive for rabies,” she said.
Kuching South mayor Dato Wee Hong Seng, when contacted, said the council had in fact acted on the alerts and the dog was captured on Sunday with the help of Save our Strays Kuching after a lengthy chase involving two vehicles.
“The reply (Ling had received via WhatsApp) on Monday is just procedure,” he explained.
The dog was tested positive for rabies by the Department of Veterinary Services Sarawak on Monday.