KOTA KINABALU – Concerned dog lovers should step up and adopt the strays kept in the Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK) pound before they are put to sleep.
Mayor Datuk Noorliza Awang Alip told reporters that the regulations currently allow the pound to keep the dogs for 14 days (after being nabbed) before they are euthanised, adding that anyone can come claim or rescue them during that period.
“But we have people coming up to us and urging us not to put the dogs to sleep. So, if there are any citizens who tell us not to do this, come to us and adopt them.
“Bring them home, if they are concerned about the dogs, they can save them,” she said after hosting a media lunch today.
The municipal government came under fire from netizens after indicating that it plans to euthanise unclaimed dogs in its pound after 14 days.
They have received 263 complaints between January and May 23 this year.
DBKK decided to put the plan on hold and proposed to review its own by-law that Noorliza said was formulated in 1963.
The mayor explained that the space at the DBKK dog pound is limited, and the trap-neuter-and-release effort has failed as the released dogs will continue to be a nuisance by dumpster diving, barking and threatening pedestrians.
Furthermore, the population of the strays has grown in recent times due to the lockdown imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic, when DBKK officers could not operate.
She noted there are communities in the city which absolutely will not tolerate any strays in their area and have resorted to capturing the animals themselves before handing them over to DBKK.
Noorliza said a mating pair of stray dogs can produce 12,000 descendants in only five years. A 2014 study has shown that Kota Kinabalu already has a population of 10,000 strays.
In reviewing the current by-laws, she added that DBKK already held a couple of consultation sessions with 46 animal lovers and non-governmental groups recently.
The consultation sessions yielded several proposals such as tagging the dogs using microchips, neutering the stray dogs and enforcing the two-dog limit per home.
“A quick look into the homes here, some of the owners kept more than two, some up to five dogs. So, we need to come back and propose a new limit.
“As for tagging the dog with a microchip, instead of a collar, but while we look at this solution, who is going to implant the microchips to the dogs? How much will this cost us?
“The same with neutering. It is not cheap. The cost could go over RM200 per dog if it’s female in private veterinarian clinics and half of that in the government.
“Besides, neutering is not mandatory under current state laws. We are now working towards solving the problem. But we cannot afford to give you miracles,” she said. – The Vibes, June 25, 2022
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