Cats For Dinner

I read about this last month in The Star newspaper. This is nightmare for cat owners. The authority have to do something about this. If they really need to eat cats. Get those stray ones but don't kidnap our pets.

Fear of pets ending up on platter of foreigners

Pasir Gudang, Johar, Malaysia : Pet lovers at Taman Kota Masai here are keeping their animals off the streets as many have gone missing mysteriously.

What scares them are rumors that drug addicts have been preying on dogs and cats to sell them to foreign workers at RM5 per head.

The pets, or strays, could end up on an alien’s platter.

Faezah Omar, 33, of Jalan Delima, here, said her cat, Tompok, went missing at the end of last year and her neighbour lost two pet rabbits.

"We are not the only victims. Many families in the neighbourhood experienced the same ordeal," she said.

Faezah also pointed out that the number of stray dogs and cats have reduced tremendously lately.

Apart from Taman Kota Masai, residents in Taman Seri Bahagia, Kempas, are also lodging complaints of missing animals with the local council.

One of the residents, Samusa Ibrahim, 43, who used to care for 18 stray cats, said he only had one left and feared the worst.

"We have seen the skins of these animals discarded in rubbish bins. That’s why we believe the animals are cooked and eaten," he said.

Samusa said many houses here were let out to employers who used them as a kongsi for their foreign workers from Vietnam, Myanmar, Nepal, Bangladesh and Indonesia.

"I do not understand how anyone could 'consume these pet animals," he said.

Samusa urged the authorities to check on the situation and put a stop to the cruelty to animals.

Taman Seri Bahagia has a population of about 1,000 residents staying in double-storey terrace and low-cost single-storey units.

Johor Baru city councillor (Kempas Zone) Abdul Rashid Kasman confirmed that over the past four months there were no stray dogs in the area.

"The city council’s enforcement unit does a routine round-up of stray dogs at this residential area but lately they could not find any," he said.

Abdul Rashid said the unit usually captured about 10 to a dozen stray dogs as Taman Seri Bahagia was considered infested with strays.

He said he had received numerous complaints about the missing strays and pets being eaten by foreign workers.

"The city council is investigating. However there are limits to the kind of action we can take," he said.

Abdul Rashid said MBJB had no authority over stray animals killed for their meat but licensed pet owners should file a formal complaint if their pets were eaten by the foreign workers.

"We could, however, monitor the disposal of the carcass under the health regulations," he said.

Technorati: Cats, Pets