This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on September 25, 2015.

IPOH: There’s no escape from dog lovers for Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, as a group of animal welfare protesters turned up with placards at a DAP event Guan Eng was attending in Kampung Simee here yesterday.

Some 40 protesters turned up, including prominent animal welfare activist and veterinarian Dr Ranjit Kaur, who is also the founder of Noah’s Ark Ipoh.

The group gathered since 9.45am to protest against Guan Eng’s decision to cull stray dogs in Penang as a measure to curb a rabies outbreak in the state.

DAP Canning assemblyman Wong Kah Woh was seen meeting with the group before Guan Eng’s arrival, asking them not to disrupt the launch of Wisma Impian, DAP Canning’s community centre in the area, and promised to arrange for a meeting with Guan Eng.

When Guan Eng arrived at 10.30am, the protesters stayed behind a line formed by men clad in DAP shirts, who acted as a barrier to prevent the protesters from getting too close.

The protesters, however, stood close behind the men and held up placards with words such as “stop killing, vaccination instead”, “please have mercy for strays, killing is not the solution” and “DAP Perak saves our strays”.

Guan Eng, when speaking at the launch, said he did not mind the demonstrators as long as the protest was carried out in a peaceful manner. He later met with the group for a dialogue, and invited Ranjit and other veterinary experts from Ipoh to meet with Penang veterinary experts to discuss the best methods of dealing with the rabies outbreak.

He also defended his move to sign off a recommendation by the Penang Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) to order the culling of stray dogs to prevent the rabies outbreak from worsening.

“I am not an expert and the department’s veterinarians are on this issue. We welcome the experienced Perak vets to share their ideas in Penang,” he said.

He also suggested that the group press the Perak government and the DVS to start rabies vaccinations in Perak before an outbreak occurs in the state.

“At the moment in Penang, we have a shortage of vaccines even for house pets and therefore the vaccination method is not feasible to contain the outbreak from spreading south.

“If there is an outbreak in Perak, I am sure the same recommendation to cull strays would be made to the menteri besar,” he said. — The Malaysian Insider