CITY HALL is monitoring the goings-on around a Kepayan residential property and another in Inanam to ensure that the roads in these respective areas are kept free of strays.
A spokeswoman for the agency’s Environmental Health Department said its Animal Control Unit (ACU) would endeavour to catch any dogs found wandering about unsupervised on these stretches.
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She said separate checks were made of both neighbourhoods last week but the Unit came back empty-handed on these occasions.
“Seven ACU members walked around Lorong Rampai, Lorong Raja Udang 2, Lorong Raja Udang 3 and adjacent housing roads,” she said.
“One of our trucks was deployed to assist with this effort.”
She said no canines were found in Kepayan but three were spotted on one of the many stretches which were inspected in Inanam.
“Our staff tried and failed to snare these dogs with the hand-held tube nets they had with them. The dogs escaped into the overgrown trees and long grass growing on some undeveloped land along Lorong Raja Udang 3.”
Despite this set back, she said the ACU would continue to keep an eye on this housing area and the one in Kepayan.
City Hall’s action was prompted by complaints from two senior citizens about the presence of aggressive canines in the public spaces around Taman Selesa and Kingfisher Park.
They said they dared not go for a walk on their housing roads for fear of being bitten or mauled.
One was so afraid of this that he even thought twice about taking the garbage out to the bin at the side of his gate.
The other did not want to relive a previous experience, in which she was injured while trying to get away from a different pack of dogs.
To make matters worse, they said the canines in their neighbourhoods were not strays.
Both rate-payers blamed the respective pet-owners for not doing enough to keep their dogs in check. As a result, these canines had become a public nuisance.
These individuals provided Hotline with the pertinent details, regarding their grievances, which were forwarded to the agency.
The spokeswoman reminded rate-payers of City Hall’s two-dog limit, as well as the necessity to have their canines registered with the agency.
“Dog-owners should ensure that their pets are properly vaccinated and do not become a public nuisance.
“They should keep their canines inside their yards and accompany their dogs, if they release their pets into the common areas. Their dogs should preferably be leashed up in such situations.”
She also called on rate-payers to restrain their canines before driving out of their homes to ensure that their pets did not run out of their compounds.
They were obliged to bring their dogs home if these canines got free, according to her.
“They shouldn’t just drive off with their dogs locked out and only look for their pets upon their return. They should take it upon themselves to go after their canines and bring them home before setting off to wherever they are going.”
In the event that their pets escaped through the gaps in their gate or holes in their fence, she said, they were duty-bound to seal these “holes.”
She said it was irresponsible of these rate-payers to turn a blind eye to what their pets got up to in the common areas around their neighbourhoods while they were not at home.
“This is especially so if their dogs inconvenienced others staying in their areas.”
On top of this, the spokeswoman advised pet-owners to step in when their canines started barking so that this noise did not continue non-stop and disturb their neighbours.
She said the ACU was empowered to catch any canines found wandering unsupervised on those roads under its jurisdiction.
She said the owners could be compounded up to RM500 – under City Hall’s Registration and Control of Dogs By-laws 1963 (Amendment 2008) – and would have to settle this penalty before their dogs were returned to them.
“Repeat offenders risk being taken to court. If found guilty, they could be subject to a fine for as much as RM5,000.”
