LETTER | The animal welfare and protection community observe International Homeless Animals Day on Aug 20 with the aim of raising awareness and urging governments and decision-makers to identify and implement humane solutions to the problem of stray animal overpopulation.

On a global scale, over 600 million dogs and the same number of cats are classified as strays. Covid-19 and its resulting economic downturn have caused an increase in the number of abandoned pets, especially dogs, as their caregivers lose their jobs or homes.

Animal shelters in Malaysia are operating beyond capacity, with the number of surrendered and abandoned animals outnumbering the number of adoptions. Irate people contact animal shelters and local authorities to demand the removal of “problematic” animals, often without understanding the fact that there are no more available places or resources in pounds and shelters.

A female dog can have up to three litters of puppies a year, with an average of five and six puppies in each litter and can continue breeding until the average age of 11 years.

A female cat can have up to three litters of kittens a year, with an average of four and five kittens in a litter, and a healthy cat can reach the age of 15 years and continue breeding throughout. Looking at these numbers, it is clear that there will never be sufficient homes for all the stray animals in Malaysia.

Hence, large-scale neutering of stray and companion animals is the only long-term strategy that will help mitigate the stray overpopulation problem and improve the quality of life of both animals and the people who live in the vicinity of stray animal colonies.

Everyone must act

The duty to help stray animals should not be that of animal rescue organisations alone. To create a compassionate, healthy and safe society, local authorities should work with stray animal feeders and animal rescuers to identify hotspots where stray cats and dogs are usually found or fed.

They can have the animals removed for neutering, put up suitable animals for adoption, return neutered animals to designated areas with universally-recognised marks identifying them as neutered animals (i.e. tipped or clipped ears and tattoo ink on the skin of their bellies) and install signboards identifying the animals as neutered community animals.

Local authorities and the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) need to increase monitoring and maintain open channels of communication with residents and animal rescuers in the event of abuse and culling attempts.

We need to consider the possibility of allowing neutered animals to live peacefully in neighbourhoods where there is a high level of acceptance of the said animals. Currently, even neutered community animals are susceptible to being caught or culled by the local authorities. This is because many Malaysians have been raised to fear animals and think the presence of stray animals is something “unnatural”.

In societies such as Turkiye, India, and Thailand, however, stray animals are often seen as “community animals” and part of the urban landscape. People lead a largely peaceful coexistence with stray animals, and animal welfare organisations and veterinary agencies carry out periodic neutering and vaccination of strays.

We need to inculcate this sense of acceptance of stray animals and wildlife in our midst, and this starts with public education in Malaysia. Local councils, veterinarians and educators should all speak up to advise the public against harassing stray animals and encourage people to help and live in harmony with stray animals.

We must learn from countries that have successfully reduced their stray animal populations, not merely because it is the humane and compassionate thing to do but because until this problem is mitigated, taxpayers will continue to bear the expense of stray animal overpopulation.

Many states in the US, including California and Maryland, have banned the retail sale of pets in pet stores and shopping centres to discourage “backyard breeders” that breed animals in inhumane conditions. Norway and other countries have banned the breeding of pedigree breeds that are likely to be born with serious health conditions and deformities which put the animals at risk of abandonment.

The Netherlands’ success story

In 2019, the Netherlands was declared the first country in the world without stray dogs. This was done through a nationwide, government-funded CNVR programme (collect, neuter, vaccinate and return), combined with an increase in licensing fees for store-bought dogs to encourage people to adopt rescued and shelter animals instead, as well as the establishment of an animal police force to monitor crimes against animals.

This International Homeless Animals Day, SPCA Selangor would like to call upon the following parties to act proactively and decisively to create a safer, kinder and healthier world for stray animals and people:

• DVS to implement and enforce the regulations cited in the National Animal Welfare Strategic Plan to prosecute people for neglecting and abandoning their companion animals and to take strict action against animal abusers.

• Local councils and authorities to exercise discretion in allowing the existence of neutered tame community animals in neighbourhoods where societal acceptance is high, phase out the retail sale of pets, create a differential licensing fee to charge pet owners more for failure to neuter their pets and designate areas and land for animal shelters.

• DVS and local authorities and veterinarians to carry out long-term large-scale neutering campaigns for companion animals.

• Educators to teach the public to identify warning behaviour to prevent animal attacks, encourage kindness to animals and educate the public not to harass, chase or attack stray animals.

• The business community, retailers and trade licensing bodies to end the retail sale of pets and cut off support to pet breeders.

• The public must neuter their companion animals, adopt them from animal shelters and rescuers, assist and support animal rescuers and shelters, act as the eyes and ears of DVS and animal protection organisations in cases of animal abuse and abandonment and care for their companion animals for the entirety of their natural lives.

On this day, we can take action to reduce animal suffering and become part of the solution to the problem of stray animal overpopulation.

WONG EE LYNN is the advocacy manager for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Selangor.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.