Educate youngsters on laws and punishment for animal abuse

SHAH ALAM - The awareness on law and punishment for animal abuse should start early at schools, say animal rights activists.

Malaysia Animal Association (MAA) president Arie Dwi Andika said school children need to be exposed and given knowledge about the laws and punishment for animal abuse.

He said his association has conducted several awareness talks in schools to explain to the younger generation on the consequences of animal abuse.

Arie also urged the government to amend the Animal Welfare Act 2015 to subject animal abusers to heavier punishments.

“The Act should be amended to convict culprits with imprisonment for a term not more than five years, instead of three years currently,” he told Sinar Daily.

He stressed that the authorities should enforce the law seriously so prosecution can be done more assertively and efficiently.

Arie also pointed out that most culprits who commit the act were between the age 30 to 50 years old which involved mental health issues.

“They tend to act out their anger and frustration towards animals as they typically do not fight back,” he explained.

“These kind of cases need to get involvement from government bodies such as Prison Department to give convicts awareness talks on the impact of animal abuse,” he said.

Persatuan Haiwan Terbiar Malaysia (SAFM) president Kalaivanan Ravichandran said the awareness should be taught is schools and then expand to colleges.

He stated that the problem Malaysians are facing now in regards of animal welfare is they do not know who to report to and how to lodge a report.

He added that they are not aware of the punishments for animal abuse so they tend to commit it.

Thus, Kalaivanan urged that education on animal welfare should be highlighted in school because younger generations are more aware about current issues and pretty well-informed on the laws of Malaysia.

“Compared to older generations, the younger ones are pretty well-informed about the existence of the law so we have to start providing more education on this issue on television and social media,” he told Sinar Daily.

He also pointed out the importance of newspapers in highlighting the issues of animals as well.

“Now, one of the most serious issues in Malaysia is animal abuse unlike five years ago where there’s not much cases and even if there are cases, they don’t get media coverage,” he said.

He then said that most animal abuse cases went silent because a loophole in the law is that these cases require evidences and witnesses, which are hard to proof as animals cannot speak for themselves.

“In this kind of cases, there’s no happy ending for the animals,” he said.

On March 11, a homeowner made the gruesome discovery of skeletons, organs and cat carcasses in a condo unit rented by a 31-year-old man in Bandar Sri Permaisuri.

The act came to light after neighbours complained about a foul stench emanating from the unit.

The tenant of the unit was alleged to have a morbid hobby of killing animals, primarily cats.

The police yesterday arrested a man to assist in investigations into the discovery.