By Lian Cheng and Wilfred Pilo
KUCHING, May 11: Kuching South City Hall (MBKS) has strongly denied allegations that its enforcement officers are entering the house compounds of dog owners to forcefully “inject” the dogs with unknown substances.
MBKS mayor Dato Wee Hong Seng said he was disappointed with the baseless allegations written in Chinese which have gone viral online, accusing MBKS of being overzealous in its mission to eradicate rabies.
He said the recent joint operation between city councils including MBKS, DBKU (Kuching North City Hall), MPP (Padawan Municipal Council), the Health, Local Government and Housing Ministry and the Veterinary Services Department of Sarawak (DVS) as well as other enforcement departments including the police, was aimed at catching stray dogs on the streets to curb the spread of rabies.
The enforcement teams have been carrying out their duties in accordance to the ordinances and the law, he stressed.
“There is no such thing as enforcement officers entering house compounds of dog owners and ‘injecting’ their dogs. We are only catching the strays which are roaming on the streets with no owners.
“What do you mean by ‘injecting’? Injecting what? The messages are unclear and those spreading the rumours do not even know what they are talking about and have no idea about what we are doing.
“And if we have entered people’s houses illegally, homeowners should make police reports.
“What is even more strange is that, our operation has yet to reach Kenyalang,” Wee told DayakDaily when contacted, referring to the rumours which indicate that such incidents had taken place in Kenyalang.
Earlier today, when he was met by reporters after the Solid Waste Management and Improvement Workshop officiated by Deputy Minster of Public Utility and Telecommunication II Datuk Dr Abdul Rahman Junaidi at Raia Hotel here, Wee had also tried to explain the issue to the media.
“These (the dogs city councils are trying to get rid of) are stray dogs in public areas and there are people who are not very reasonable and cooperative and they create such messages which are now viral on social media.
“They are accusing the authorities of breaking into people’s property to catch dogs. We have read it and this is not true,” he explained.
Wee took the opportunity to urge the public to not spread rumours that are false through social media about their current operation as it may have repercussions on the authorities who are trying to carry out their duties in protecting the people.
“When you spread rumours like that, it has a bad impact. We don’t do this or remove dogs from public areas for fun. We just want to protect and save people. Please don’t hinder our work,” he said.
Recently, there was a stray that was found to be rabid only after it had bitten nine victims.
Following that, there was a case of two medical personnel being bitten by a dog in the compound of the Sarawak General Hospital. The dog was later caught and sent to the authorities for testing.
Meanwhile, a 50-year-old man from Kampung Bumbok along Jalan Batu Kitang was confirmed to be the latest fatality due to rabies yesterday. — DayakDaily
