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Date Posted: 18:05:35 04/16/02 Tue
Author: bunny
Subject: Be kind to animals letter

Date 16:05 Apr 16
Subject Be kind to animals in response to a letter from a reader

Abuse of animals - The Star 26.3.03.

I was at the Malaysia International Pet Expo 2002 which was held from March
14 to 17 at the Mines Exhibition Centre in Seri Kembangan, Selangor. I was
disappointed and sad to see that most of the animals there were not well
taken care of.

Children and adults were allowed into the Petting Zoo without being given
any instructions or guidelines. Children were allowed to play with the
rabbits without being told how to handle them.
Some were seen carrying the rabbits by the ears. The rabbits were
mistreated. Instead of hopping around happily they looked stressed. Some
were even too scared to move, while others were nuzzling each other with
their heads down. They were scared the children would pick them up and
throw them down like toys.

There were animals which were kept in cages that were so narrow that they
could not even step forward or backward. To add to their misery, there were
visitors who kept poking them with their fingers. The four day exhibition
was held from 10am to 8pm. This is how long the animals had to suffer. Is
the pet expo a way to educate the public about animals? What disgusts me
most is the argument that animals were put on this earth for humans to use
as they please. This is nonsense. Every time you speak up for the animals,
it gives them another chance to live in peace. - Have Mercy - Kuala Lumpur.


In response to the above letter - The Star 16th. April 02.

Be kind to animals

WE REFER to your letter, Abuse of Animals (Speaking Up, March 26). Sahabat
Alam Malaysia agrees with the writer that a pet expo is certainly not the
way to educate the public about animals if they are treated as “living toys”
for the delight of children.

Talk of creating a caring society does not seem to extend to animals,
judging from the many instances of cruelty to animals or abandonment of
animals. People are not taught to have respect for animals or to be
responsible for them. Pregnant animals are sometimes abandoned because
owners do not want the problem of unwanted puppies or kittens.
If a mother is kept, the litter would be abandoned. People who take such
actions are not concerned with what might happen to the animals after
abandonment.

Young puppies are acquired and put on a leash straightaway. It is sad to see
a puppy wanting to play but unable to do so. Most chained dogs have little
or no shade at all. Kept under such conditions,it is not surprising if the
dogs become aggressive. When these dogs attack the owner or someone else,
all the blame is heaped on the poor animal.

Little attention is paid to the mistreatment of animals on farms, or of
those used for public entertainment or research. Animals and birds are
killed in slaughterhouses where frightened animals are dumb witnesses
to the killing and the mental agony of waiting for a similar fate can easily
be imagined.

The circus is itself a small world of horror. While most people laugh at and
applaud the tricks of the animals, how many would think of the long hours of
torture that these animals go through to perform that two-minute trick?
Captivity and an unnatural lifestyle give rise to neurotic behaviour. Animal
shows portray a distorted view of wildlife.

Animal experiments are nothing short of torture. Injected with vile germs,
addicted to large doses of morphine, made to endure violent electric
shocks, or driven insane by the application of monstrous
apparatus, animals suffer intolerable pain in the name of scientific
research until death mercifully claims them.

Captivity of wild animals for circuses, safari parks and even zoos provides
an environment of fear, boredom and anxiety. The animals are denied all that
is natural to them in terms of food, activity, socialisation and natural
behaviours.

Pacing, bar-biting, circling and self-mutilation are common among performing
animals and animals in captivity. Their spirits have been broken; they are
degraded, isolated, shackled, lonely and bored. Their
captive state provides no educational value.

An animal lover is not one who goes around looking after animals or
preventing cruelty. It starts with a feeling of respect for the natural
world around us. It is not about buying a bird and keeping it in a cage. It
is about letting it be the way it should be – free from
captivity.

How many of us have the courage to stop the cruelty and fight for these
poor creatures, knowing their plight and seeing them being ill-treated in
front of our very eyes? The one-week annually-designated Be Kind to Animals
Week is not doing any good to improve the situation.

The problem lies in a general ignorance as to what constitutes cruelty and
abuse. There is a lack of knowledge on the needs of animals and the
responsibilities of animal ownership.

The existing Animal Ordinance 1953 is long outdated and the Municipal
Council By-Law 1977 is more concerned with the control of animals than
with their protection. Several amendments are urgently needed to make the
regulations effective in fulfilling their objectives to alleviate the
suffering of animals.

Steps must also be taken to ensure that unwanted animals are destroyed by
local authorities wherever necessary either instantaneously or after being
rendered insensible to pain or suffering, and not in
the present manner where unwanted dogs are being caught and shot.

Laws on slaughtering of animals should be tightened so that unnecessary pain
or suffering, whether physical or mental, is eliminated before and during
slaughter. Apart from the attempt to eliminate cruelty by means of
education, a provision could well be inserted in the Act whereby public
exhibitions of animals should be prohibited if they involve the infliction
of pain or terror on the animal.

Public awareness is half the battle won. There can be no long-term solutions
until enough people take the necessary steps to end animal suffering.

Let us step forth with a clear vision: Be kind to animals.

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