The order was issued by department director-general Datuk Dr Abd Aziz Jamaluddin in response to a Malay Mail report last Friday which highlighted that Ampang Jaya Municipal Council, Klang Municipal Council and Kajang Municipal Council were allegedly housing captured strays, as well as licenced dogs, in the councils’ vans and trucks as these councils do not possess their own animal pounds.
Deeming the councils’ actions as unacceptable, Dr Abd Aziz said his department had given them more than enough time to abide by the guidelines on the housing and extermination of strays.
“By the end of next month, if they do not have their own pounds, they will face action for animal cruelty offences,” he told Malay Mail.
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Russia announced on Wednesday that it would ban the hunting of baby seals, effectively shutting one of the world's largest hunting grounds in the controversial trade in seal fur.The decision is yet another blow to an age-old industry that has been losing a public relations battle in recent years to animal-rights groups, who have gained public support by using stark photographs of harp seal pups less than a month old being clubbed to death on blood-stained ice flows.
In addition, the European Union is considering a ban of all seal products — similar to one that the United States adopted decades ago — which would eliminate a key trade route and end market for the furs. And even in Canada, where the world's largest seal hunt is scheduled to begin later this month and top leaders vigorously defend the industry, a legislator for the first time introduced a proposal to curtail sealing.
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