So I know while a lot of people have agreed based on what I've presented so far that Uncle Lee was badly defamed by Puspa, a lot of people don't agree with the conditions that he's keeping his dogs in and are wondering why the heck he is hoarding so many animals. This is a valid concern, which was the same concern I had when I visited his place the first time, and my intention was to try help those dogs adopted out a.s.a.p., until of course the next day happened and all that went haywire. Everything before this was only to debunk the exaggerated claims that Puspa made against Uncle Lee.
Was he abusing his dogs? No.
Was he starving his dogs and depriving them of clean water? No
Was he making them live in their own poo? No
Was he running the biggest and worst puppy mill in the country? No
So was he defamed in respect to all of the above? Yes!
However, if you said he's an animal hoarder and not keeping his dogs and other animals under the best of conditions, I would say you are right. I also don't like seeing animals in cages or leashed up most of the time. But hoarding animals and keeping them in cages is not necessarily abuse or cruelty. Else you'd get a lot more animal owners in this country being charged for cruelty, including MIAR and a good number of other animal shelters for keeping their dogs in crappy cages. Uncle Lee's place is just not an ideal long-term place for the animals. There are also questions about the other animals, particularly the gibbon.
So I'm going to address most of these questions as best as I understand it from Uncle Lee and his wife, and not everyone is going to find them satisfactory or believe these answers, especially I have nothing to back this up except what they tell me. Which is not my problem, my main objective is not to make people support Uncle Lee. It was to show that Puspa's wild claims against him were untrue, and also to show that she's not exactly someone you should be trusting with your hard - earned money. You are free to continue thinking Uncle Lee a weird animal hoarder if you like, but not whatever bullshit Puspa made out about him. However, I believe in being transparent, unlike Puspa who can't even honestly answer a basic question like what happened to the 31 dogs more than 2 weeks after the shelter flooded.
So here we go:
1) Why is Uncle Lee keeping so many animals?
Now many people would argue that if he cannot keep so many animals under ideal conditions, then it's best he does not take in so many. However, because he can't bear to turn away animals in need, his line of thinking is that it's better to have as many animals off the streets and being provided with regular food and water every day even though they have a semi-crappy life in cages, rather than keep a few animals and give them a very good life while a majority remain out on the street and suffering from lack of food, being forced to eat rubbish or facing the risk of being run over every day by vehicles. You want to argue that pampering a few is better than meeting the basic needs of many, you're going to have to give a good moral justification for that. Keeping in mind that a big chunk of his income goes to the animals, which is a lot more than what most people would give up for their pets.
2) Why isn't he giving his dogs up adoption?
He has been giving dogs up for adoption, but he's not good at computers or using the internet, hence he cannot post dogs for adoption online. Hence, the adoption rate is slow and mainly through word of mouth. And considering there are already many other dogs out there up for adoption (over 4000 dogs on Petfinder.my alone), any rescuer would understand why it's difficult for him to get his dogs adopted even if he posted them online for adoption. In addition, he knows many people do not know how to handle dogs well, so he interviews them before he allows them to be adopted.
However, since this Puspa came and made this big mess, he's currently not putting any dogs up for adoption to people he does not know, as he wants to relax and get back to his normal life first. Also because he was too trusting of strangers coming to see his place and that's how Puspa found out about him in the first place, when one of those people betrayed his trust. So if you're interested in adopting, you're going to have to wait until further notice (which will be announced on the Facebook page for Uncle Lee's Supporters).
3) Where did all the poodles come from?
According to Uncle Lee's Thai wife, most of the poodles have been with her for more than 7 years old. They are very attached to his wife, and she also lets some of them sleep with her. Most of them were given by relatives, dogs that couldn't be sold by pet shops, abandoned by their owners, and never collected after they sent it to them for boarding or grooming.
4) What was he doing with a gibbon?
Uncle Lee claims the gibbon was left at his place for boarding since it was young and the person who left it never came back to get it, and that he did not know that it was illegal to keep it. From what I can tell, he's not a highly educated person, so it's probably true that he may not be aware of this. Of course, anyone may argue that everyone should know that, in which case, I would ask an interesting questions, which is how many people know, for example, that oral sex is considered a punishable offence in Malaysia? I'm sure a lot of people don't, in which case I can argue how come you are so ignorant of the law, same way you are arguing why Uncle Lee is ignorant of the law against keeping a protected species. Not everyone has the same level of education and access to information as most of us, so ridiculing someone else who isn't as lucky as you in that respect is a bit much.
Uncle Lee has since given the gibbon away, most likely back to his friend. I'm currently not too sure about the status of the gibbon coz' the dogs and dealing with Puspa have so far been my primary concern. But the first time I visited the place, he showed us the gibbon and that he cared for it, I do believe he was taking care of the gibbon as best he could. If it's true that the gibbon was with him since young, then releasing it back into the wild is also not a good idea, as it would not know how to survive in the wild.
5) Why haven't the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) checked out his place?
Well, DVS has actually checked Uncle Lee's place before and since the raid, DVS and Perhilitan came again to inspect. According to Uncle Lee, DVS took photos and 5 of his dogs which were not in very good condition for observation. Perhilitan just came but since the gibbon was relocated, they did not do anything. Neither DVS or Perhilitan has issued any summons to Uncle Lee. If he had been found to be cruel or abusive, they certainly would have done so. But they haven't, which says a lot.
6) So is anything being done to improve Uncle Lee's place?
Yes, since the raid there were at least 4 experienced dog rescuers who have visited Uncle Lee's place and agreed that his place was not as bad as Puspa made it out to be. Some of these people are now working to improve Uncle Lee's place with larger enclosures and better living space for the dogs. More updates on this will also be on the Uncle Lee's Supporters Facebook page
If you have any other questions about Uncle Lee or ideas how to help him, you can send a comment or an email to me, or comment on the Facebook page. Thank you very much.
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