I HAVE always cooperated with the relevant authorities and will continue to do so in the interest of public safety, environmental risks and animal welfare.
I am sharing this openly to encourage constructive discussion and to hear public views on an issue that affects all of us.
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The photo (flashback from Daily Express’ Hotline report) shows monitoring of stray dogs around housing areas. Monitoring is necessary, and public safety matters.
However, animals must not be harmed or victimised simply because they exist.
What should truly concern both the public and the authorities are the real risks created by inaction:
- Public health risks
- Public safety concerns
- Zoonotic diseases such as rabies
- Environmental and sanitation issues
- The image and credibility of the government when problems are seen as unmanaged
These risks do not come from the animals themselves.
They arise from irresponsible ownership, uncontrolled breeding, abandonment, and weak enforcement.
Catching or removing animals without addressing owners and breeding only shifts the problem elsewhere. It does not solve it. Instead we create “vacuum effect”.
Catching n sending them to d forest or landfill or water catchment, even outside d lonely road where fast driven cars will just hit them, without food water n worse unneutered is cruel. Starvation is definitely cruel. Not only according to human law but the one who created them.
This is why I continue to urge:
- Strong support and enough funding for neutering programmes
- Clear, enforceable policies on compulsory neutering with safeguards
- Action against irresponsible owners
- Meaningful engagement with NGOs who deal with these realities daily
NGOs exist to support and assist, not to replace government responsibility.
- share this as a concerned citizen and long-time animal welfare volunteer.
This is not an attack, but an appeal for prevention, responsibility, and cooperation.
- welcome public comments and views. Open dialogue is how better solutions are built.
- congratulate ACU DBKK for their effort to educate d owners on responsible pet owner ship well as the public not to provoke the strays, we must realise strays come from irresponsible homes. Together we can make Sabah stray free n humane treatment on managing animals especially those who are made to become strays.
My thinking.
The solutions already exist.
The real question is: is there the will to implement them?
Is humane animal management treated as equal priority, or is it always pushed to the lowest level until it becomes a crisis?
Government must step in to:
- Provide funding for neutering, whether subsidised or outsourced
- Put in place clear, consistent policies on humane stray management
- Work together with NGOs, who are already on the ground and willing to assist
- Ensure enforcement personnel are properly trained, professional, and compassionate
When animals are seen as living beings, not enemies, the work becomes easier, safer, and more effective for everyone involved.
We cannot keep saying “it cannot be done” before even trying.
If solutions are known, partners are available, and laws already exist, then inaction is no longer a resource issue.
It becomes a matter of will, priorities, and governance.
Kindness is not disorder.
Feeding is not a crime.
Starvation is not public safety.
Humane management is.
A society that criminalises compassion while ignoring abandonment n cruelty is not solving the problem – it is hiding it. The choice is ours. To be or not to be.
Core issue identified
Meanwhile, staunch supporter and animal rights advocate Jenny Chung said Faridah has precisely identified the core of the stray animal problem.
“This is exactly the root cause and solution that many animal welfare groups have been repeatedly highlighting to the government over the years.
“Sadly, the authorities have failed to take this seriously and instead continue to target innocent animals, while tolerating irresponsible pet owners, animal dumpers, and illegal breeders.
“Ultimately, misguided leadership leads to an increasing number of social problems.”
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Faridah Malai is SPCA Kota Kinabalu’s Vice-President and is a veteran when it comes to her involvement in Sabah’s animal welfare
