KUALA LUMPUR: The cat's leg is broken. She struggles to walk down the road and trips into the road. Today, she is lucky, with a animal lover nearby, who grabs the young one and takes her to a veterinarian. She gets treatment and is eventually adopted, Aminah Zakat, a volunteer with Malaysia's local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). “The cat was not a feral animal. She was someone's companion animal and they broke her leg and put her on the street. Lucky we were there to see her,” Zakat added. This month, the SPCA has said it is hopeful that a new animal welfare law being proposed in Malaysia will help boost the country's international standing on animal welfare. Its chief, Lee Lam Thye, said the proposed amendments were long overdue, saying that animal abuse and cruelty towards animals had been going on for such a long time. “Even up to this present moment, cruelty is being perpetrated as shown by the recent incident where a dog was being dumped into a manhole and left to survive on its own,” he said in a statement today. On Monday, Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Noh Omar said the Animal Welfare Bill draft which, among others, imposed a heavier sentence on those who abused animals, was expected to be tabled in Parliament early next year. The draft calls for those who torture animals to face a fine of RM20,000 to RM100,000 or be jailed for up to three years, or both. Lee said the most essential way to address animal cruelty was to instil love and care for all animals.
