KUALA LUMPUR: A pet dog’s death during a municipal dog-catching operation in Selangor – which has led to animal cruelty charges against its owner and a volunteer canine-catcher – has renewed scrutiny of how Malaysia manages its strays.
On Thursday (Aug 20), S Roghini Devi, 42, and Muhammad Shah Idham Nor Haikal Shaharom, 24, were separately charged at the Klang Sessions Court with committing animal cruelty through an unreasonable act that caused unnecessary pain or suffering.
Shah Idham is alleged to have strangled the dog with a loop while Roghini was alleged to have pulled the dog.
Roghini was the dog’s owner while Idham was part of a group involved in the Klang municipal council dog-catching operation on Jul 29.
The operation was reported to have been launched in response to frequent resident complaints about neighborhood strays, including a severe accident where a motorcyclist was purportedly injured by a roaming dog.
A video of the July incident went viral online and saw different groups disputing the sequence of events which occurred close to midnight outside Roghini’s home.
Since the July incident, Roghini has been quoted by local media as saying that Rocky was struck on the head and unresponsive when she found it looped by the neck.
Meanwhile, Shah Idham’s lawyer had said that the confrontation turned chaotic only after Roghini intervened, sparking a tug-of-war over the animal, as reported by local news outlets.
Rocky’s death drew condemnation from Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin – the queen consort to the Sultan of Selangor – who spoke out against animal cruelty towards pets and strays alike.
“No form of animal cruelty would be accepted or tolerated, regardless of who committed the act, their position, race, religion or the reason given,” said Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin, who is also the Royal Patron of the Stray Free Selangor initiative under the state’s chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).
The incident has thrust the issue of stray dog management back into the national spotlight – a concern amplified by a recent proposal by the Seremban city council in Negeri Sembilan to introduce a cash-reward incentive programme for catching stray dogs.
Activists whom CNA spoke to said that such a proposal would not solve the issue, with Kalaivanan Ravichandran – who is the president of Persatuan Haiwan Terbiar Malaysia (SAFM) – saying that the country needed a multi-year national stray animal population management programme.
SAFM is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) dedicated to the welfare of all animals.
This multi-year scheme would include large-scale spay and neuter programmes, vaccination, and proper management of community dogs among other things.
“Ultimately, the long-term objective should not be to become better at catching stray dogs. It should be to reach a point where fewer dogs are being born or abandoned onto our streets in the first place,” he said.
It was reported that before the attempt to catch Rocky, another 12 dogs had been caught in the area. It is unclear if the dog catchers were aware that Rocky belonged to Roghini.
On Thursday, the animal cruelty charges – framed under Section 29(1)(e) of the Animal Welfare Act 2015 and punishable under Section 29(1) of the same Act – were read out separately to the two at the court, one after another.
The offence carries a fine of between RM20,000 (US$4,950) and RM100,000, imprisonment for up to three years, or both upon conviction.
Roghini was also charged with keeping Rocky without a valid licence from the Klang Royal City Council, an offence that carries a maximum fine of RM2,000 or up to one year in prison.
Tensions were high at the court complex as supporters for both Shah Idham and Roghini gathered, met by an increased police presence.
Kalaivanan said that Rocky’s case received significant public attention partly because it had an owner who was able to come forward, speak about what happened and pursue the matter.
“But that also raises a much bigger concern: what happens when the dog has no owner?” he said.
REACTIVE POLICIES AND THE DANGER OF BOUNTIES
Animal advocates said the fundamental flaw in current strategies is a fixation on managing visible strays rather than curbing the root cause: the continuous influx of new dogs onto the streets.
Kalaivanan said that stray dog management in Malaysia remained largely reactive, triggered only by public complaints, bite incidents, or high visibility, with capture and removal serving as the immediate default response.
“You can remove hundreds of dogs from an area, but if abandonment continues, dogs remain unsterilised and breeding continues without a sustained population management programme. Eventually more dogs will appear,” he said.
Kalaivanan said that different local authorities have different budget allocations, approaches and capacities, with programmes often carried out individually instead of being part of a coordinated national strategy with common targets and proper data.
He pointed to the nationwide uproar in October 2024, when a stray dog named Kopi was shot dead during a stray culling operation by the Besut District Council in Terengganu.
The case drew widespread outrage after a 52-second video surfaced online, capturing the moment a resident discovered Kopi’s lifeless, severely injured body shortly after gunshots echoed through the area.
In 2023, the Kuala Langat Municipal Council in Selangor faced severe public backlash after images of nearly 100 neglected, emaciated dogs at its pound went viral online. The dogs were eventually sent to a shelter in Johor.
Kalaivanan said that for many stray dogs, there may be nobody present to witness what happens during capture, nobody to ask questions afterwards, and nobody to lodge a complaint if the animal is injured or handled inhumanely.
“In many cases, the public may never know what happened to that particular dog after it was taken away,” he said.
The incident has thrust the issue of stray dog management back into the national spotlight – a concern amplified by a recent proposal by the Seremban city council in Negeri Sembilan to introduce a cash-reward incentive programme for catching stray dogs.
Activists whom CNA spoke to said that such a proposal would not solve the issue, with Kalaivanan Ravichandran – who is the president of Persatuan Haiwan Terbiar Malaysia (SAFM) – saying that the country needed a multi-year national stray animal population management programme.
SAFM is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) dedicated to the welfare of all animals.
This multi-year scheme would include large-scale spay and neuter programmes, vaccination, and proper management of community dogs among other things.
“Ultimately, the long-term objective should not be to become better at catching stray dogs. It should be to reach a point where fewer dogs are being born or abandoned onto our streets in the first place,” he said.
It was reported that before the attempt to catch Rocky, another 12 dogs had been caught in the area. It is unclear if the dog catchers were aware that Rocky belonged to Roghini.
On Thursday, the animal cruelty charges – framed under Section 29(1)(e) of the Animal Welfare Act 2015 and punishable under Section 29(1) of the same Act – were read out separately to the two at the court, one after another.
The offence carries a fine of between RM20,000 (US$4,950) and RM100,000, imprisonment for up to three years, or both upon conviction.
Roghini was also charged with keeping Rocky without a valid licence from the Klang Royal City Council, an offence that carries a maximum fine of RM2,000 or up to one year in prison.
Tensions were high at the court complex as supporters for both Shah Idham and Roghini gathered, met by an increased police presence.
Kalaivanan said that Rocky’s case received significant public attention partly because it had an owner who was able to come forward, speak about what happened and pursue the matter.
“But that also raises a much bigger concern: what happens when the dog has no owner?” he said.
