Puspa's Accusations against Mr. Lee
As most of the Malaysian dog loving community in touch with the news may know, sometime last month, there were several news reports that Puspa Rani, president of Malaysian Independant Animal Rescue (MIAR) had conducted a raid on 14 December 2014 on an alleged horrific puppy mill described as the 'biggest and worse case of animal abuse' in the country. Example of one of the reports below from the Star. The news also came out in Free Malaysia Today, Current Buzz and a number of Chinese dailies.
My involvement
I got involved in this case, but in a manner and extent that I did not expect. I had personally visited this same alleged dog breeder's place just one day before Puspa Rani to investigate the place for myself.
For me, it started when someone posted photos of Mr. Lee's place on a Facebook group for dog lovers which I was a member of. The photos showed some pitbulls with bad skin condition and a house with many caged dogs and stated that this was a suspected dog breeder. The lady invited members of the group to join her and some friends to investigate further on this place to see if it was true. The photos looked pretty terrible and so I agreed to join, even jokingly offering to bring along steering wheel lock in case I needed to beat some sense into this horrible breeder.
So I joined this lady and two of her friends to visit this place on 13th December 2014. I was expecting to see obvious evidence of dogs being overbred, typical signs being saggy breasts, many puppies, dogs dying of disease, living in poop, and basically suffering. I was also expecting that the man running the place would be defensive and unwilling to let us see the base camp of his animal torture activities.
What I experienced in reality was that the alleged breeder, Mr. Lee, was a very friendly man who openly invited us in and showed us around. The place was indead really dirty and messy because he's a mechanic and there were various automotive parts and car beings repaired, so stuff was shrewn everything and the house was not clean. And yes, there were many dogs in cages, not to mention a bunch of other animals like birds, cats and even a gibbon. There were several dogs that had skin conditions and were very weak. However, most of the dogs were jumping up and down excitedly when we walked in, and I did not see many of the telltale signs of abuse that are expected of a puppy mill.
I left the place feeling very unsure and thinking that he may not be a breeder after all, but it definitely needed further investigation. I work as an auditor, it's my job to make conclusions based on observations and evidence. So for me the short time I spent there was definitely not enough to make any conclusion, because a lot of I saw was not consistent with what an abusive dog breeder would be. So I was discussing with the group I went with whether we should report him to the authorities or not.
At the time, I have been a regular follower and supporter or Puspa and MIAR on Facebook for several years. The next day on 14 December, I saw news on her timeline that she was going to visit Mr. Lee's place. Initially I thought, great, she should be able to do a much more thorough investigation.
What happened next shocked me. On the same evening, MIAR's Facebook page and reports were splashed all over the news said that this man was an abusive and cruel dog breeder, keeping his dogs in terrible condition...dogs were starving, eating their own poop, sick or dying, puppies were taken from their mothers at young age... all the makings of a horrific puppy mill. The more the news came out, the more I was confused. Confused because it didn't make sense to me how Puspa confirmed all this in such a short time.
At the same time, a lot of negative allegations and rumours were circulating about MIAR from her ex-committee members and ex-volunteers, some of whom I knew personally. There was a Registrar of Societies report made by ex-committee members claiming Puspa is using funds for personal use, including buying drugs, among many others. I also noticed on Facebook that Puspa was asking for donations to a personal account under the name of Tej Rajbanshi instead of MIAR's account, so I tested the waters to see what would happen and posted a comment on MIAR's page asking why Puspa is asking for donations to be made to a personal account. Soon, I found my comment deleted and I was blocked from posting on MIAR's page. Which is when I realized something is not right about what Puspa is doing, talked to a lot of people online and did my own investigation, even going back to Mr. Lee's place to find out more. And I found more evidence to support Uncle Lee's case rather than Puspa's.
Uncle Lee's Conference
Yesterday on 3 January 2014, a press conference was organized at Mr. Lee's place, and I was there to do a presentation on Uncle Lee's side of the story, using the evidence observed and found by myself and a friend of Uncle Lee whom I met with after the news reports. The press conference was attended by several reporters, mainly from the Chinese press and only one representative from the an English Daily. Many other English news reporters were invited, including from the Star, Free Malaysia Today, Malay Mail, and the New Straits Times....but no reporters from these dailies turned up. Interestingly enough, a reporter from the one English Daily who did turn up called me after the Press Conference and told me that his reporters had been THREATENED not to publish any negatives news related to MIAR and that those threats came from none other than Ms. 'Angel' Puspa Rani herself.
To the reporters of this daily, hats off to you for having balls and defying this woman. To all the reporters from the other English dailies who decided to give Mr. Lee's press conference a miss because you were too busy or too easily bulldozed, your loss for missing out on a nice juicy scandalous story to attract readers. Now I have to do your job for you by writing this to make people aware of this con job named Puspa Rani. But that doesn't mean I'm not having fun doing it. :)
My Presentation
Below is the presentation I made to the press on the truth regarding the alleged Subang dog breeders. To all supporters of Puspa Rani who argued that detractors were simply 'jealous' of Puspa's fame, take 12 and a half minutes to see the evidence here of how badly she has taken all of you for a ride.
P.S.: One slide showing the video of Uncle Lee's place is not running properly, and I'm too lazy to figure out how to fix it, so bear with it please :)
P.S.S: The 'visitor' to Uncle Lee's place mentioned in this video is myself. Coz' sometimes I like talking about myself in third person, just like how Puspa likes calling herself an angel on MIAR's page. Falalalala
If you don't have 12 and a half minutes to spare, here's the faster-to-read jpeg version of the presentation, minus the suspense, intriguing mystery music and my weird kiddie-voice narration.
Enjoy!
Oh yes, to Puspa, when you get round to reading this, I respected you for years and do believe you may have started MIAR with good intentions, but the easy money got the better of you. If you're still thinking about taking Uncle Lee to court, you might want to consider turning over a new leaf and stop hoodwinking people at the expense of the dogs you claim to love. Coz' thanks to all these little trails of careless mistakes you made in your quest for money and glory, you don't have much a strong case going for you. Toodles!
If you'd like to monitor the progress and latest news on Uncle Lee's case, please like our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/uncleleesupporters
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12 red comments:
to never believe blindly. Thanks for the great article, I did donated. Lesson learnt.
Hi Carol. You mentioned dogs were in cages and there were a few sick docks with skin conditions.. Isn't this a negligence of the owner? However Puspa need to come out and clear this out. She's been quiet recently.
Hi Carol,
This is a very devastating news to know about.
Firstly, being allegedly mistaken for a puppy miller despite being an animal lover is very unfair to Mr Lee. I pity how stressful he may have been, given the terrible effect of what the world wide web can do. If this is the real case, I feel very disappointed for MIAR as the issue of puppy mill was introduced to me by this society itself.
I am making no allegations to anyone in this issue but it is true that conflicting evidences require further investigations. Just to be fair to both parties in this situation. I hope government bodies and media will shed a light to members of the society on what is really happening.
Taking a blame on something you clearly did not do is the worst unjust for a kind soul
Gigi, having sick dogs or dog with skin conditions is not a sign of negligence. If most of the dogs there are healthy and only a few dogs are weak and sick, the logical conclusion is that as a rescuer, he took those dogs in fairly recently and they were still recovering. I am personally fostering a sick and weak dog, which I am been taking care of for about 3 weeks with some improvement but still long way to go. I also have 3 other healthy dogs. So who's dumb enough to accuse me of abusing that one weak dog when I have 3 other healthy dogs?
The dogs with bad skin condition were only the pitbulls, and that's because pitbulls are genetically prone to skin conditions. Please go research on this. I did not see any other dogs there with skin condition like the pitbulls.
I just messaged her the link to this page and asked if she killed the 31 dogs that she rescued with the flood. https://www.facebook.com/puspa.rani.92?fref=ts
As a bit of raw speculation here, perhaps the ill dogs were found in that condition. Also, dogs sometimes fall ill just like people do.
Hi Carol,
I am on you with you. Over a year ago, I was quite a supporter of MIAR. One fine day, I saw a photo of an injured poor dog and some people asked for information of the vet the dog were sent to and photos of the dog after being treated. MIAR replied in a rude way to ask the people to come down to MIAR to volunteer to help blah blah blah. I commented but the comment got deleted and I was blocked.
I was furious. They are ridiculous. Puspa even posted a comment after that saying she is tired with people asking them to rescue and people is full of shit etc. I find it really stupid.
Here is a link of my case:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151601884127117.1073741828.546602116&type=1&l=cdc68d02b0
I dunno head or tail about this case, but Uncle Lee's place looks better than MIAR's, especially the cages. With the half-million that she has been given, her place is trash. I also got cheated and lied to by her.
i respect your professionalism and how you present these evidence to support your idea. i do hope more people will support this. is it possible for you to get a veterinarian approval of the dogs health condition for further evidence?
I knew something was not right with miar. If you are running a non profit organization you will never ask for donation. People will volunteer to give. Carol you did a good job just want to say keep it up. Regards M
I had a similar encounter with Puspa. Sometime early last year i encountered a litter of pups left to fend alone after the authorities snatched away their mom.
I am a animal lover and not knowing how to nurse 6pups (they were still in the nursing stage) by myself. I searched online and came across puspa's personal number.
With high hopes, i rang her up and explained the case & asked if MIAR will be able to take them in. She brushed me off straight away and asked me to look into other shelters.
I had a similar encounter with Puspa. Sometime early last year i encountered a litter of pups left to fend alone after the authorities snatched away their mom.
I am a animal lover and not knowing how to nurse 6pups (they were still in the nursing stage) by myself. I searched online and came across puspa's personal number.
With high hopes, i rang her up and explained the case & asked if MIAR will be able to take them in. She brushed me off straight away and asked me to look into other shelters.
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