A horrifying video recently surfaced, showing dogs lying lifeless with blood and foam on the ground. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that they had been poisoned. Some of the photos show the carnage of 12 dogs, including one that was pregnant. It brought tears to my eyes, out of sadness for the dogs and anger for those behind the killings.
What would possess a person to think that it’s okay to kill helpless animals? There are a few stray dogs that I have been feeding for a while now. Recently, one of them died and I cried for ages. So when I learned that a pest control company was responsible for poisoning those dogs, my immediate question was: who would pay someone to kill innocent strays?
According to a friend, who works for an animal rescue organisation, the authorities in the district where the dogs were poisoned had been contacted. I hope the enforcement unit would launch an investigation into the crime because these killings were absolutely senseless.
The person behind it most likely didn’t like the sight of stray animals and took matter into their own hands. The company should have drawn the line between a pest and a dog.
Those dogs, according to my friend, did not pose any danger to the public. So the company merely redefine the word ‘pest’ to justify making money out of killing innocent animals?
There are no two ways about it. Animal cruelty is wrong, and the authorities ought to make an example out of the incident by bringing the person who hired the pest control company, as well as the pest control company itself, to justice.
A slap in the hand isn’t going to deter people with cruelty in mind; we need harsher punishment to keep these people from giving our community a bad name.
Heartbroken Citizen
I just saw a viral video of dogs lying dead near Tutong buildings. I broke down watching those innocent souls, especially the last photo posted on Thursday night of them lining up outside a shop sleeping peacefully. Those dogs had never bitten, chased nor caused nuisance. They were never noisy nor did they ever attempt to harm passers-by. So what would warrant their deaths via poison?
Animal cruelty is surely haram; it is causing harm to Allah the Almighty’s animals. It is even stated in Al-Quran that no one is to harm Allah the Almighty’s beautiful creatures unless they act out of self-defence and survival. Authorities ought to take immediate action on the people who were behind such a disgusting and sadistic act.
Authorities should also support non-profit organisations that are keeping the community safe by spaying the animals and creating a proper system to rescue, treat and tame them.
I remember 15 years back, stray animals were regularly being poisoned. The reason the perpetrators did it so often was because they could. Back then, we didn’t have social media to raise awareness on animal rights; we do now.
The rumour has been circulating that the company that poisoned the dogs was hired help. If it were true, then the person paying for it should be properly put away in a mental institution and released only when they are deemed safe for society.
Sleepless
When I saw a post on social media asking a pest control company whether dogs were considered pests, I was curious. I clicked on the original video posted by the company, watched it and immediately fell apart when I saw photos of dead dogs that had obviously been poisoned.
After reading up on the law on animal cruelty, I was shocked by the punishment being a measly BND1,000 fine per animal. Imagine sadistic individuals paying off the fine only to do it again.
I hope the law would be revised soon to protect these voiceless animals who cannot protect themselves against the psychopaths among us.
The world is so upside down; there are people who act like animals, while there are animals that don’t bother humans, don’t cause inconvenience and have no inclination to harm people.
There is absolutely no justification for killing animals that don’t pose threat to us. So, I hope the authorities would take swift action before the company had time to hide their slip-up. More importantly, I hope they would track down the person that hired the company to poison those dogs.
Animal rescue organisations in the country have been drowning in debts. They need help not just from the public but from the government. They have been working so hard to keep the population of stray animals down, and one thing that would make a world of difference is if private vets are mandated against charging these rescuers an arm and a leg.
It is also no wonder that some people feel like they are getting pushed to the edge and cannot see past animal cruelty as the only solution to the growing stray issue. The mass murdering of those stray dogs speaks volume to the lack of options in the country.
In my opinion, it is high time that the authority brings back BND1 spaying service to encourage responsible pet ownership.
AM
