Sue town councils that issue fines for feeding strays, says activist
KUALA LUMPUR : People who have been issued summonses by local councils for feeding stray animals, including dogs, were urged today to challenge such rules.
Animal rights activist and lawyer Rajesh Nagarajan said he would help them take the councils to court.
Any by-law against feeding stray animals would be unconstitutional and an abuse of power, he said, and the same principle would apply to feeding stray animals at any residential area, including serviced apartments.
'We can feed whoever we want. If anybody wants to fine you for feeding stray animals, take the summons to me, I will take them (the authority) to court pro bono,' Rajesh said at an animal rights forum today at HELP University.
Rajesh also spoke on a suit brought against the Terengganu state government and Besut district council over the alleged unlawful killing of a stray dog, Kopi.
He said that the decision date has been postponed to September. He said the plaintiff was ready to take the case to the Court of Appeal should the case be lost.
Demonstration at PMO on July 25
Rajesh Nagarajan and S Shashi Kumar (front row, centre) with participants who attended an animal welfare forum in Kuala Lumpur today.
Separately, S Shashi Kumar, the president of Global Human Rights Federation, announced that a demonstration calling for reform of the Animal Welfare Act will be held at the compound of the Prime Minister's Office on July 25.
Shashi said the government should stop the inhumane killing of stray animals.
He said a week of debates and discussion had ensued after a memorandum was handed to MPs at Parliament in October last year, but there was no follow-up after that and animals were being killed again.
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