Logical Responses to 7 Arguments in Support of Culling

Logical Responses to 7 Arguments in Support of Culling

Are you an educated, intelligent Malaysian who wants to see Malaysia become more developed? Do you frequently criticize the government’s ways of doing things? If so, I ask you to read this article. Malaysians owe 50,000 innocent lives on death row at least this 10 minutes of your time.

As we know, the states Penang, Kedah and Perlis have started culling strays dogs to curb the spread of rabies. To date, over 2000 dogs in the 3 states have been culled, an exercise that has been strongly protested by dog lovers. However, as many as there are those protesting, there are those who support the culling, justifying it with very similar reasons and retorts to dog lovers.

I can somewhat understand people in Kedah and Perlis supporting the cull because they are less developed and do not have such easy access to information. But it is strange to me that people in developed states like Penang and Selangor who regularly protest how backwards Malaysia is going backwards under current leadership and compare us to more developed countries, yet simultaneously support culling. Firstly, because these people are essentially contradicting their supposed stand against the government. And secondly, because these educated people who don’t want this country to go backwards make statements to justify culling, a practise which is not the mark of a developed country.

Allow me to explain this contradiction by responding to all the main arguments in support of culling:

1)   If you dog lovers love the strays so much, take all the strays in. Problem solved!

Many dog lovers would really love to do that. However, you know that same government that makes policies that you don’t like? That same government also develops policies that make life difficult for people to keep pets. For example, if a neighbour of a dog owner complains about the dog, regardless whether the dog is actually problematic or not (as it could be just that the neighbour hates dogs), the local council will demand the owner to remove the dog? This is a frequent problem faced by dog owners who are unlucky to have nasty neighbours, including those whose dogs are not disturbing anyone.

You know how housing prices are escalating beyond our means? This means more and more people have little choice but to buy cheaper high-rise units. Unfortunately most high rise residential buildings do not permit occupants to rear pets, especially dogs. At best they can keep small dogs, but not medium sized dogs, which include most strays.

Remember the dog touching event last year where the organizer was investigated and flooded with death threats while Malay participants were critisized and ridiculed? Many of us we complained that these Moral Police are turning Malaysia into a Taliban-like country. Due to this peer pressure, Malays generally don't keep dogs even if they want to. Malays make up 60% of the country's population, so that's a huge reduction of potential dog owners. Which is sad considering countries like Indonesia and Turkey with larger Muslim populations are not subjected to such pressure and as such, many Muslims there rear and love dogs without issue. In year 2012, thousands of residents of Istanbul (in a 98% Muslim populated region) actually rallied to protest against authorities relocating their beloved street dogs!

So government policies, expensive housing and pressure from the Muslim Moral Police, the same issues we all complain about, also make it difficult for many Malaysian dog lovers to keep dogs.

On another note, there are also many abandoned children and orphans in this country. If not lucky enough to adopted or raised in a good home, they might become delinquents and add to society ills. And if parent abandons or kills their child, pretty much everyone would criticize them, just like how dog lovers criticize the killing of strays.

So to the supporters of culling who say human lives are more important, I implore you, why don’t you take in each and every one of these unwanted children? Problem solved!

2)   Safety of humans comes first. Dogs are just animals. Why not protest when pigs or chickens are culled to prevent spread of disease?

Because dogs were not bred to be eaten, they were bred to be pets. Studies have shown that having pets is therapeutic and many dog lovers, including myself, will attest that dogs are like children to them. People who love their pets and lose them would be as depressed as someone losing a child. Imagine then how devastating the culling has been on animal welfare NGOs and animal activists who have spent their much of their lives and resources to spay, vaccinate and help strays. If you are afraid of your human children getting killed by rabies, their fears have come true for many thousands of their ‘children’. But who stopped to think of the massive psychological impact it would have on people who love these strays but cannot keep them because of point no. 1? 

Saying dog lovers are ridiculous to treat mere animal like children is displaying a severe lack of empathy. Just like how a certain Prime Minister who has been wealthy all his life expects normal people to rejoice when the price of 'kangkung' goes down. He does not emphatize with the difficulties of poor or middle class people because that's not his reality. Likewise people who hate or are scared of dogs ridicule those who love them, because you do not emphatize with the pain of people losing their beloved dogs since that is not your reality. Are you as low as that? If you critisize the former than don't behave the same in that only your reality matters beyond anyone elses. Depression due to loss of loved animals is a real condition written about by experts, like in this article. Such depression can lead to suicide, such as in this case. 

Why are human lives considered more important than dogs? Is it because humans have personalities? Emotions? Intelligence? Dog lovers will attest that dogs have all of those and can be even more loving than most humans. We all complain about idiots that create unnecessary racist and religious issues, and heartless humans that kill and torture just for fun. But dogs will love good humans, regardless of your race or religion. They are never cruel for fun but only fight to defend themselves. It’s funny then that humans think we are so much more highly evolved than dogs. Intellectually perhaps, not in terms of unconditional love or compassion.

There is really no good reason why we say humans are more important other than dogs other than the fact that we are wish to protect our own species above all others. In other words, humans are prejudice to animals. However, no Malaysian Chinese or Indian would not like prejudiced people telling us to go back to China or India, right? We were born here and so were our generations before us, where else do we have to go? Well, Malaysian dogs don’t have anywhere else to go either. They didn’t choose to be born here, so where else can they go if we don’t take care of them?

By the way, don’t kid yourselves justifying that we need to cull because human lives are more important. If that were true, then there would not have been so many heartless Malaysians telling the government to ignore the dying, starving and sick Rohingya when they came to our shores for help, calling them unwanted scum. It’s not about human lives being important, it’s only about your life.  

3) Stray dogs are diseased and suffering, and they scare people by chasing and biting them
There are also many strays that are very healthy, friendly with people or are more afraid of people than people are of them. Yet just like the small-minded racists that call all Malays lazy, all Chinese greedy or all Indians gangsters, you have stooped to their level of intelligence by classifying all strays as diseased monsters just want to attack everyone. The culling is not only of diseased and aggressive dogs, it includes the many healthy and friendly ones, which most likely being fed regularly by people who care for them but cannot take them in due to Point 1.

How often do you've hear of anyone falling ill from being around diseased strays? Hardly ever? There’s a good reason for that, because the ones that are diseased are very often those who fear humans and keep away from them, hence humans are unlikely to get diseases from them. But is also why they cannot get treatment for their diseases. Those that are friendly are those that humans help by feeding and treating and these strays are in healthier condition. Hence, don’t behave like a small-minded racist and classify all strays as the same.

4)   If your loved ones dies of rabies, who are you going to blame?

This question comes from people who are ready to blame the government or the animal lovers if the culling is stopped and someone dies of rabies.

FACT: There have been ZERO deaths in Malaysians due to rabies, and only a few cases of people being bitten by rabid dogs, and were treated and recovering. So getting bitten by a rabid dog is not an automatic death sentence, one will survive if treated immediately.

If you care about your loved ones, this is what you REALLY need to worry about: Mosquitoes and rats.

FACT: As of 20 June 2015, there were 53,823 cases of dengue with 158 dengue-deaths reported in Malaysia for 2015. Last year there were over 7000 cases of leptospirosis or ’rat urine disease’, and 92 deaths from this disease. Did anyone blame the government? Did these deaths become BIG news? NO. Because these diseases have existed in Malaysia for a long time! But because we have been rabies free for years, and rabies is ‘new’, the media has a field day and people go a flying fit of panic.

Why is it for these prevailing diseases causing many deaths, no one blames the government? Because in order to curb dengue, they have to do regular fogging. This inconveniences us because of the smell. Or they have to go round fining people with stagnant water in their homes. This inconveniences us as we have to regularly clean our drains. To curb leptospirosis, they tell us to stay away from rat-infested areas and leave no garbage to attract rats. This inconveniences us because our favourite food is at the roadside stalls where the rats run around. Plus we actually to...*gasp*... properly dispose of our garbage! So we don’t complain about it because we don’t want to be inconvenienced. But everyone can reduce the risks of these pests by remove stagnant water and keep areas clean.

Rabies deaths are equally preventable through education and simple safety measures, like avoiding areas with strays, not allowing your pets to roam, learning how to identify a rabid dog and reporting it, carrying pepper spray or an umbrella to fend off aggressive dogs and getting urgent treatment if they come in contact with a rabid dog. Things which educated and intelligent Malaysians can easily do. But many DO NOT want to do any of these simply because it’s an inconvenience. It is easier if the dogs just aren’t there.

Hence, simply because some people are too lazy, 50,000 innocent lives are going to die.

It’s not the fault of the government that rabies got into the country. Neither is it the fault of the animal lovers. And it is especially not the fault of the dogs being murdered. So stop having this mentality of blaming others for things that are not their fault and just make the effort to educate and protect yourselves. It is because of this fear of being blamed that the authorities resort to killing!

5)   There are too many strays anyway because of irresponsible pet owners.

Now this is exactly 100% correct! Irresponsible pet owners are the biggest headache of all animal welfare NGOs and rescuers too, because many pet owners abandon their dogs, and don't desex their dogs. NGOs and pet lovers do educate, but their resources and scope are limited. It is impossible to educate nationwide without government support. So if you want Malaysia to become a developed country, we need to push for government policies that encourage responsible pet ownership, just like we push the government for better policies in other aspects of our lives. Countries like Germany and Holland have no-kill policies and yet have next to ZERO strays, proof that killing is not necessary to control stray populatons. They implement policies requiring pets to be micro-chipped so they can trace owners who abandon their pets and fine them. In year 2011, when the German city of Bremen was overrun by cats, the government controlled it not by culling but by ordering ALL strays to be neutered.

But of course, our government has sooo many other problems like corruption, racism, and lackadaisical attitude to so many more important things, so creating responsible pet ownership policies is far from their minds. So why don’t you dear readers who are more educated and intelligent do your bit to help make Malaysia become more like developed countries by using your education to teach others? Educate your pet owning friends and relatives on the important of spaying and vaccinating their pets. The reasons why are all on the internet. If you can spend half your life complaining on social media about the government, it should be no problem to research on responsible pet ownership and educate others. The strays of this country need people with developed mindset to push the government to help make it a better place for them.

And yet so many supposedly educated people are simply not bothered.

6)   Culling is the only way to reduce strays and prevent the spread of rabies. Is worked before, why so against it now?

Before August this year, the last known case of rabies in Malaysia was in 1999, which was 16 years ago. 16 years ago, we were also just getting used internet and smartphones, and there were no tablets. If you would like continue living like how it was back then, please discard your latest gadgets, iphones or laptops. If not willing, then understand that just as there are technological advancement, in 16 years, there were more studies done and better ways have came up to solves problems like diseases. Culling has proven to be ineffective in curbing spread of rabies, and the World Health Organizations stated that vaccinating 70% of stray populations is more effective. The ineffectiveness of culling can been from what happened on Flores Island, Indonesia, where 70% of dogs were culled in 1998, yet rabies still exists. Sufficient stock of rabies vaccines are available and international organizatons like World Veterinary Services are just waiting for permission from the local authorities to come in and vaccinate the dogs. The Departments of Veterinary Services (DVS) also have trained personnel who have assist them.

DAP Representative Yap Soo Huey who is an ex-virologist explains many scientifically backed reasons why culling is ineffective for killing strays, in this interview. 

Yet, supporters of culling have chosen to ignore results of proven studies, using archaic methods which are ineffective and effectively maintaining the mentality of a poor ignorant country which does not know better. Science is not that difficult, folks.

7) No time to wait for vaccines! It's an outbreak! News says people are getting bitten! Rabies affects our brains! We're all going to DIE, DAMMIT!!!

Rabies has also existed in the very populated city of Thailand, parts of Indonesia, India and other underdeveloped countries ALL THIS TIME. Guess what? The strays there are not all rabid monsters and the Thais, Indonesians and Indians have not all become rabid zombies. So Malaysia is not going to have a zombie apocalypse just because of a few rabid dogs, okay? 

As stated in this Fact Sheet from the World Health Organization (WHO), "Rabies is a neglected disease of poor and vulnerable populations whose deaths are rarely reported and where human vaccines and immunoglobulin are not readily available or accessible. It occurs mainly in remote rural communities"

Are Penangites saying they a poor rural state? Are you severely lacking in education and medical facilities? No? Then please refer back to point 4 for simple measures on how to protect yourself against rabid dogs.

Did you also know that not all dogs with rabies become vicious as the media like to depict? Rabid animals may develop 'dumb rabies', where they become frightened, unusually tame, and have partial paralysis. Please refer here for info on Dumb rabies and watch this video of a dog with Dumb Rabies, and come back and tell me just how likely it is that that dog is going to bite anyone.

Aren't a lot of us sick and tired of news portals publishing reports yet another stupid politician's racist or religious comment just to get more views? Creating fear and hatred is what gets them hits. In the same way, these same news portals now have been equally irresponsible by reporting ANY case of dog bites, regardless of whether it dog that bit was rabid or not! Yet dog bites happen occasionally all this time and has never become headline news until now, creating unnecessary paranoia when lazy people do not comprehend the news and just assume all dog bites are from rabid dogs.

50,000 lives on death row: The result of Malaysia’s 3^rd world mentality

Dear, educated and intelligent Malaysians, if you want Malaysia to become a developed country, then learn to think like a developed country. Developed countries like those in Europe have strict animal protection laws, do not cull except for very sick or injured animals and have no strays. Our neighbouring countries are also moving in that direction, e.g. Singapore has implemented a pilot project to catch, neuter and release strays on Jurong Island to avoid culling. There are abundant studies explaining why vaccinating animals is more effective in curbing rabies. Yet, because the authorities prefer the easy way out, and because people including our educated, intelligent Malaysians, refuse to educate themselves on how to prevent rabies, refuse to even slightly inconvenience themselves, and just insist the government must make all their problems disappear, the culling continues.

So many Malaysians are hypocrites, for we demand to become a 1^st first country, but we maintain a 3^rd world mentality towards our animals. We frequently speak up and criticize our government for embarrassing us, yet do not feel embarrassed when we ourselves display a 3^rd world mindset towards innocent animals who we bred to be our companions and cannot speak up for themselves. And because of our laziness and unwillingness to be inconvenienced, 50,000 animals are going to die needless and probably painful deaths at the hands of our unfeeling dog catchers.

I hope you all are proud. 

 

Image source: Save Our Strays Penang

Logical Responses to 7 Arguments in Support of Culling