KUALA
LUMPUR - MALAYSIAN villagers caught more than 300 stray dogs and
dumped them on a mangrove island, driving the canines to
cannibalism after weeks of starvation, animal welfare activists
said on Thursday.
The
plight of the dogs cast away on a small, uninhabited island off
Malaysia's western Selangor state ignited outrage after activists
this week released photographs showing dogs eating the carcasses of
ones that had died.
Residents of a fishing village on Pulau Ketam, another island
off Selangor, caught the dogs last month and took them to Pulau
Tengah island. The villagers said they never intended to be cruel -
they believed the dogs could feed on Pulau Tengah's wildlife - but
wanted to rid their island of dogs that defecate on the streets and
sometimes bite children.
A team from the Selangor Society of Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals visited Pulau Tengah on Monday and saw several emaciated
dogs 'crowded and hunched around something - they were hungrily
feasting on the remains of another dog,' the SPCA said in a
statement.
'Nearby, a weak dog was screaming because several dogs were
trying to bite her,' it said.
SPCA volunteers have so far rescued two dogs and left food for
the others, said SPCA official Jacinta Johnson. They estimate 200
might have survived.
Pulau Ketam's residents have said some dogs tried to swim back
to their island, about a half-hour boat ride away, but it was not
clear how many succeeded.
Efforts to save the dogs have been slow because many were now
fearful of people and scampered into mangrove swamps when rescuers
approached, Johnson said.
Activists have persuaded Pulau Ketam's villagers not to dump any
more dogs and are considering measures such as sterilization and
relocation to ease problems posed by an estimated 2,000 stray dogs,
the SPCA said. -- AP
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/SE+Asia/Story/STIStory_373529.html