I refer to the malaysiakini report Protest held over MPS' dog-hunt .

We agree that the streets are no place for dogs and that we need to get stray and feral dogs off the streets for their safety as well as that of the public. But encouraging private citizens to catch dogs by putting a price on their heads is practically an invitation for cruel and thoughtless individuals to abuse these animals.

It also puts the untrained people who are catching the dogs at risk of being bitten or injured. Only trained, compassionate animal control officers should be allowed to catch stray dogs and cats.

What's more, rounding up these animals from the streets and killing them doesn't address the source of the problem: people who don't spay or neuter their animals and abandon animals on the streets.

Without spaying, one female dog and her puppies can produce 67,000 dogs in six years, and one female cat and her kittens can lead to 420,000 cats in seven years, quickly leading to the overpopulation problems neighborhoods are experiencing.

We urge the Selayang Municipal Council to prevent more dogs and cats from ending up homeless and on the streets by requiring all companion animals to be spayed or neutered. Learn more here .

The writer is campaigns manager, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), Asia-Pacific.