300 starved and 13 died- Petknode
Outrage over cats starved at “pet hotel”
Tue, 06 Sep 2011 04:54:25 GMT | By Muna Noor, MSN News
Malaysians are abuzz in anger over the alleged starving of cats kept at two pet boarding premises. We run through what happened, the reaction from the various parties (on Twitter & Facebook), and how you can act.
WHAT HAPPENED
The New Straits Times, a Malaysian newspaper, reported that about 200 cats and a dog were rescued from a pet boarding premise in Damansara Damai and another in Sungai Buloh. The animals were alleged to have been starved.
The Damansara Damai location was identified as the Petknode Cat Boarding centre. On Sunday, over 20 pet owners forced their way into the premises after failing to contact the centre’s operators. To their horror, they found 12 dead cats and many others in a dire condition.
About 100 cats and a dog were saved from the Petknode Cat Boarding centre in Damansara Damai. At the Sungai Buloh location, another 100 cats were found and liberated that day itself. It is understood that the animals were left at the pet boarding premises for the lengthy Hari Raya Aidilfitri and Merdeka Day break.
Petaling Jaya City Council mayor Datuk Mohamad Roslan Sakiman ordered the Petknode Cat Boarding centre to cease operations immediately over the pet-starving allegations. “They have been operating without permit since January last year as their permit expired on Dec 31, 2009. Even when they had one, it was meant only to sell cat food,” he was quoted by The New Straits Times as saying.
Authorities are looking at stern legal action against the owners of the centre
Extracted from and all credit goes to: http://news.malaysia.msn.com/regional/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5236764
Petknode verdict out tomorrow
Wed, 27 Jun 2012 04:19:22 GMT | By Amirul Ruslan, MSN News
September starved pet scandal still fresh in pet owners’ minds
In September last year, a scandal erupted upon the news that 200 cats and a dog kept at pet boarding premises in Damansara Damai and Sungai Buloh had been allegedly abandoned and starved over the Hari Raya holiday period.
Anger over the treatment of these pets led to the mobilization of anxious pet owners and animal lovers to rescue the pets kept at the Petknode Cat Boarding center. Over 20 pet owners forced their way into the premises, having been unable to contact the operators. There, they found 12 dead cats and many others in a dire condition.
The pet owners’ actions led to the rescue of about 100 cats and a dog from the Damansara Damai location, with another 100 cats found and rescued at Sungai Buloh.
Outraged Malaysians expressed their anger at Petknode using online social media. Facebook groups called for the centre’s operators to be punished, and tweets tagged #petknode trended in Malaysia.
Extracted from and all credit goes to: http://news.malaysia.msn.com/regional/article.aspx?cp-documentid=250320335#page=2
This scandal has gone national and made talk shows:
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/petknodebekfas.mp4
Owners are distraught. See the stats:
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/catabusepetknodepc.mp4
Celebrities are outraged. Very important to watch this:
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/petknodeb.mp4
See the conditions of the cats. This video shows you what happened to the animals in this ‘boarding centre’:
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/RescuingCatinPetknode.mp4
Please everyone,
Be kind to all animals. Be kind to those who are without speech and are vulnerable. Cruelty to animals is ‘nurturing’ cruelty to yourselves. When you are cruel, the world will be ‘cruel’ to you. Be kind to animals who have not harmed you but only been exploited. Be human. Be with feelings. Have empathy. Nothing wishes to suffer, be hungry, be in pain. Never contribute to pain of any human and animals.
Teach your children to love all, be kind and caring to all that live. Do not imprison your children with thoughts of cruelty.
I thank all those who are kind and compassionate to others. I thank those who rescued the animals.
Never be cruel to animals.
Tsem Rinpoche
P.S. Go to the comments below and let everyone know how you feel? What are you going to do? How will this be shared with your friends and children? How can we prevent this? Anyone who gets the verdict of the Petknode owners, please post on comments below.
Please support us so that we can continue to bring you more Dharma:
If you are in the United States, please note that your offerings and contributions are tax deductible. ~ the tsemrinpoche.com blog team
Shocking reading this again as it happened in Malaysia . At the Petknode Cat Boarding center or pet’s hotel in Damansara Damai and Sungai Buloh had been allegedly abandoned and starved 200 cats and a dog . Anxious pet owners and animal lovers came to the rescue. Over 100 cats and a dog were rescued from the Damansara Damai location ,while another 100 cats at Sungai Buloh. 300 starved and 13 died- Many outraged Malaysians including celebrities , social media Facebook groups expressed their anger over it. Hopefully stern punishment should enforced on those who abused animals. Animals should be given a chance to live, love by all, they are one of us . Teaching kids early to love ,care for animals should be taught in schools.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing
I can imagine the outrage and anger of the pet owners due this hurtful feeling of their trust being misplaced while it must also be very saddening to learn of the peril experienced by their pets. From the comments of SJA, I find this a very sad case because even the most vigilant consumer would not be able to prevent this since the Petknode had built their ‘trust’ well and over time. Most businesses still operate Caveat Emptor as they know they only run the risk of being exposed in social media and perhaps a small fine if customers decide to press charges. Therefore stricter penalties on offenders are imperative. Thank you for this sharing.
Shocking to read and hear this, happening in our own country. Even though this post is old , feeling sad for those cats starving been kept at two pet boarding premises which they called pets hotel. Pets owner discovered that those pets were left abandoned and starved . They also found dead cats and many were in a sad condition. Our local newspapers reported that about 200 cats and a dog were rescued from that premise alone .Another location about 100 cats were found and rescued. These episode was highlighted in news national wide. It such a shameful act .How can the owner of the premises do it for their own selfishness just because of celebrations.
It is good that the authorities took a stern legal action against the owners of the centre.
Animals are ignorant and do not deserve to be treated so badly. Be kind and caring to all sentient beings. Have empathy.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing.
[…] always a lot of news published about how people would torment animals, abuse them and even intentionally throwing them into the river like in John’s […]
Dear Rinpoche,
Oh My Buddha!!! How can such a thing happen?
When I saw this on the news I was totally shocked because I never expected that such a bad thing would happen to 30 innocent cats!
Really why would a Pet Boarding Center do such a thing and then when the owners are complaining all they say is we are sorry , we did not have the money… wait, the owners said they paid for both boarding as well as food so why couldn’t they have went and buy food for the cats since they had already been paid for the food costs?
Even though I don’t have a cat neither did I know that Petknode existed I am also angry at the owners of Petknode for taking in more pets than their limit thus bringing the death toll higher still. How could they have garnered so much trust from pet owner and yet they went and abuse their trust by starving the cats to near death.
I am surprised that the charge for both the pet shop owners are so low and cheap. How can one learn a lesson through such a small fine? Is one cat starved so close to death only worth RM 200 and how about the money customers paid? Don’t the customers get any refunds? I also heard both owners had 3 months of jail sentence…. for 30 starved cats 3 months is wayyyyyy is way to little.
I believe that the Malaysian Government should take strong action on cases like this as well as the Laws For Animal Abuse should be more stern as well as more severe…. hopefully another case like this will never ever happen again.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing.
Love
Jutika
This is so bad. I feel so sad for the animals who suffered by being starved. If I could I would buy a piece of land so that these pets will have a place to stay while their owners are away and not instead, starve in a “pet hotel” that has uncaring caretakers.
This is horrible. This shows that they don’t take life seriously. How can they do this to the innocent cats?! It’s such an inhuman action. More people should know about this in order to create awareness. I must ask my friends to see this. Thank You for sharing Rinpoche.
Love,
beatrix.
This is crazy, what kind of people would do such a thing to pets like this. First they take the money and say they will take care of the pets, then they probably did not use the money for the animals. Instead, they let the animals starve. And some of the pets DIED. This is terrible.
Things like this in the world has to be stopped. Please, anybody who is reading this comment now, BE KIND TO ANIMALS. Show them love, care and respect. Thank you for sharing this story with us Rinpoche.
I am trying to garner support by doing a petition http://www.causes.com/causes/662151-go-vegetarian-a-day-or-two-in-a-week/actions/1663447?recruiter_id=42926363&utm_campaign=invite&utm_medium=wall&utm_source=fb
每個生活著的生命都是難得可貴。世界的空間是那遼闊，人類應該讓小生命有生存的空間。每個生命活著是短暫及有限，所以，盡我們的能力好好愛護它們。
Oh my! Where are the humanity? Poor helpless cats, it is so disturbing to see the animals being treated in such away!
Even if you are a pet owner, please treat your pet well! They are lively being who deserve a fair treatment when you take the responsibility to own them. Please take good care of animals & love animals.
Dear Rinpoche,
I truly feel that the pet owners were really upset about the incident and so do i. The way Petknode acted in this case is like committing a crime in an open day time. The Petknode owners took their responsibility lightly on the cats and never even consider if the cats were going to be starved before they left the shop for a long Raya holiday. As we are also sharing to live in this world with other sentient beings, we can buy a packet of animal food, bring along in our car and feed those stray animals we meet at the road side. We just have to make one step away from our comfortable zone to bring many many care and love for the stray animals who are speechless, always in the state of hunger and unprotected.
They were only fine RM6k??? I was hoping that they would be in jail without food and water for at least 3 days to make sure the same treatment that they have made to those innocent cats. Malaysia laws on Animal Rights sucks big time.
For anyone who want to operate a pet boarding house , they should be knowledgeable in caring for the animals and most of all must love animals. If they do not love pets then they should not be in this line. For owner of pets,they should only leave their beloved pet to reputable pet boarding house if not those that their friends would recommend with good tract record, as if they would look for a baby sitter for their own child .
What Petknode did was very wrong as they were overcome with Greed as it was very profitable but Irresponsible towards those helpless pets under their care by totally neglecting their basic needs “Food and Water ” They should be punish by law for their action, and the charge should be murder !
It’s terrible for the owner of Petknode who runs the business in this manner, sorry for them whom fail to realized the word “Compassion”. Stacking the confine cages on top of each other. I am truly sorry for those who lost their pets due to the selfish action of the Petknode owner. Really sad. We should be more compassionate towards other living things because we have choice, we are learned, intelligent and be able to make a choice of what is right and wrong.
Sorry again to those who lost their pets in the hands of the selfish Petknode owner. But do you know every night there’s also thousands of chicken is also caged, stacked and waiting to be slaughter. Are there a difference between a life of a cat and a chicken?
Yes, it’s disturbing to take animals to boarding hotel and found your pets were neglected and some died of negligence of weeks long.
The fine is not justified with the harm caused. The animal hotel owners are guilty, and it’s time for Malaysian law and regulations on stopping animals cruelty to be reviewed.
The law not only should increase the punishment, amount of fine to any party acts cruelty towards animals. At the same time the law should covers aspects of local authority to inspect animals boarding hotel, pet shops and any pets/animals related business regularly, to make sure everything is adhere to law.
Pet owner should always set a good example for others. If you have pets, be sure to always show them the love and good care they deserve. And it’s more than just food, water, and adequate shelter.
For Petknode case, as a owner should investigate carefully before board your pet to any pet hotel and if possible we should bring our pets together if there is no better choice.
Be a stop animal cruelty “police” by always observing and look out for the animals in our neighborhood. When there is any animals abuse incidents then we can call to report animal cruelty.
We should fight for the passage of strong anti-cruelty laws on federal, state and local levels by joining local NGOs, such as SPCA.
On owners’ or citizen’s part, education on how to treat animals should be done starting from home and school.
We could always fight for heavy punishment to punish those involve in animals cruelty, but educational is equally important in order to create an animal loving society.
Most importantly, as parents we should educate our kids about how to treat animals with kindness and respect. We could talk to school administration to insert animal loving program to school activity or syllabus.
We regularly see children in homes where animal abuse has been reported. As parent we should make children understand that animals are living creatures who have the ability to feel pain, joy and sadness. And we as parent should treat the family’s pets the right way also.
Watched the vidoes, I asked myself how much i care about animals. I don’t harm animals but I seldom care about dog or cat at the road side. From here, I realize that even I feel that Petknode’s owner is cruel but very fast I would forget the issue.
Therefore, from now onwards, I am going to care the dog and cat at the road side even though I am scare of dog. Also I am going to find article on how to take care of animal and post it through social media to educate myself and others.
Such cruelty & irresponsibility is totally unacceptable. More so when the penalties are only mere Rm200 for such offense. How much does one life worth? These people had acted out of their selfishness & greediness for their own benefit & took away innocent lives. I hope the authority will be more stern in their punishment against the offenders of such actions. Many of us are not capable to such cruelty towards animals. However, while we are still enjoying eating meat will not make us any less quiltier. Think about that!
It is very disturbing to read about this, especially when I get to know that the owner got away with RM6000.
Animals are living beings too. They are ALIVE! How could they treat the animal like this? Furthermore, Petknode has collected money to provide the service to house the pets. They are fully responsible for the pets. It is really irresponsible to just say “We do not have enough man-power.” If Petknode does not have enough man-power, they should not accept so many cats and not just get all the pets and want to make money.
This brings up the current issue of animal cruelty. I just read about some Zoo are treating the animal badly too. (http://www.sinchew.com.my/node/252306?tid=1). I also always heard about pet owners neglected their pets when the pets grow old, sick or just not so cute because they have grown up.
It is the awareness that we should create so that people will be NO TO CRUELTY!
I am going to support by creating the awareness, eg through FB and join the petitions and survey.
i’m totally distraught at the treatment these poor cats received. the people who owns Petnode should be severely punished. ‘sorry’ ‘regret’ is not going to bring back the lives of these 12 cats, and not going to heal the pain of the cats’ owners.
If i’m not mistaken, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act was passed in 1953 and now almost 60 years later, this Act is totally outdated. Just a slap on the wrist , a minimum fine , suspended jail sentence is not going to deter anyone from repeating the same abuse over and over again.
A new bill was supposed to be passed mid last year to increase the fine to a maximum of RM 10,000 and a jail sentence of 2 years but somehow the whole bill fizzled out.
i know that SPCA, PAWS, and MDDB are all trying very hard to reactivate and push this bill through .We , animal lovers, must voice out our concern on this and be active in pushing the bill through. we can write to the media, contact the various animal organisations to offer our assistance, and educate the people around us to be kind to animals. Animals have feelings too !
To those who are interested on what had been said by Petknode & their lawyer as their defense, please read this link.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/shah-dolores/fakta-yg-diputarbelitkan-oleh-petknode/372948332768309
It’s in Bahasa Malaysia, my apologies. But I hope Google Translate could do some help.
I feel much sadness for the cats and dog who were put into that situation, at the same time feel a little bit of hope that there is such big response from the public on this. It shows that people in Malaysia are more and more concerned about and recognise animal rights, and change is coming. I like how in the second video the host said “put the ‘kind’ back into ‘humankind'”, obviously being kind to animals is inherent in human and is something humans can do and differentiates us from animals (and there are many many stories of how animals can show kindness as well… so what is the difference now?)
Social media played a very important role in publicising this news. however what we can do doesn’t stop at sharing and liking, but to lead by example – become vegetarian, teach our children, parents, family, friends about being kind to animals, carry pet food in our car to feed strays whenever we see any, support or sponsor animal shelters, lobby for animal rights, comment on online news portals, comment on the youtube videos, comment on authorities blogs/twitter, write in to the newspapers, sign the petition http://stopanimalabuse.petfinder.my/petition_546.htm#SIGN.
The court has decided to only FINE them RM6,000 (means RM200 for 30 cats).
Please be reminded that they were charged for thirty cats just because only thirty reports were lodged. The media did not emphasize the fact was there were MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED CATS (and a dog) are left to starve to death in that small shop. And there are more…… ALMOST A HUNDRED were found in the Petknode’s van & house.
For those who questioned about why the pet owners did not check the boarding place before sending their pets to Petknode, or being “responsible” for this incident by “neglecting” the pets wellbeing at the shop, below are my response.
First of all, the pets were not “abandoned” by their owners. They were “boarded” for a few days TEMPORARILY in the hands of the people that they TRUST.
Secondly, why i say “trust” is because Petknode has been operating quite some time & have gained a lot of trust and loyal customers, including myself. Previously, they have a very good service & they have maintained their place quite well. In fact, during my cats’ boarding (a few years back), they have MMS-ed me their photos everyday & kept me updated. From this, one can judge that they actually have an intimate relationship with their customers. It is not a surprise why they have so many regulars.
They even have TWO RESIDENT CATS (which later was also abandoned – sigh) at the shop, which had made many to believe that they too are animal lovers.
Thus, good words spread & they have gained quite a reputation among pet owners.
Third, on normal days, Petknode usually charge quite an expensive amount to board a cat for a day (can’t remember the exact price, sorry – maybe RM15-RM20). So, at a point, most of customers believe and consider them as “professionals”, hence, the trust. The RM3.95 was considered as a “promotion” price and I think with Petknode’s reputation, pet owners didn’t give much doubt or being skeptical about it.
Fourth, I was told that the customers actually did call Petknode from time to time for updates, but they couldn’t be reached. They began to worry, but they couldn’t do much as they were out of town. They came to the petshop as soon as they came back from Raya and that is how this incident started.
Fifth, some pet owners left their own food at Petknode so that Petknode could help to feed their cats. Payments are made full before Petknode accepts any cats to be boarded. I have told that customers came to board their cats did not see any cats cramped up at the place, initially. My guess is they started to cramp the place up when the last day of operation (a few days before Raya, I suppose). Anyway, during this incident last year, it was found that Petknode not only keep the cats in the shop, but also in their VAN AND A HOUSE. Police have raided both and managed to retrieve more.
Sixth, I don’t know about others, but bringing my pets to travel is really stressful for both myself & my cats. Even a 15 minutes trip to the vet can be a nightmare. Please be reminded that not all public transport (eg. train, bus) allow pets on board. Even hotels too don’t allow pets in their premises. So please don’t judge pet owners that board their pets as “irresponsible”.
What Petknode SHOULD DO was, make a limit of the number of bookings & boardings, according to their resource (space & workers), not taking ALL. It is a common sense of people doing business, provide ONLY WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD TO GIVE to your customers. Not empty promises, and surely NOT DEAD CATS.
FYI I didn’t board my cats at Petknode during this incident, but I checked the place out that day & followed their press conference a few days after.
It indeed was outrageous and said to be heartbreaking for the animals lovers in which justice should be done for the animals and its lovers in Malaysia. A severe deterent punishment should be shown and seen to be done. “There’s no justice for abused animals” said welfare groups and pet owners. Undoubtedly, all are awaiting and looking forward for the comming welfare bill which could offer harsher penalties of RM50,000- fine, a year in jail, or both.
Petknode Cat Boarding centre was paid to take care of the cats by their owners. These operators had not only cheated the cats owners of their money, they had also killed and starved the innocent and lovely cats!
What kind of people are those who operated the centre? How cruel and inhumane they were to starve the 300 cats and caused the death of 12 cats. Karma will catch up on them!
The irony is why nobody knew that the centre had been operating without permit since their permit had expired in 2009? The authorities should step up their checks on unlicensed operators and only issue licenses to those who really have the interest of cats in their hearts.
Cat owners should be more careful in choosing the operators of such pet centres.
太没有人性了！难道动物的生命不值一文而可以随时被剥夺吗？最气恼的莫过于既然以资金不足而造成这样的结果，太不负责任了。。。
有赖社交媒体的功效而带动了很大的效应回响，引起大众甚至明星支持和关注。这么多猫的生命才被罚款马币六千，太便宜了那店主了。
希望这事件可以启发更多人对动物的爱与关怀。
It is not surprising tat this ‘tragedy’ have caused an outrage from the public and not to mention animal lovers. It is very irresponsible of the owner of this Pet Hotel – Petknode. They were paid to take care of the animals even if its a long holiday. That is why pet owners will give them business because Petknode accepted the responsibility to take care of the pets in return on fees.
I believe this is also negligence from the Petknode management to have gotten themselves in hot soup. It is imperative that they have the integrity to safeguard their clients’ welfare, in this case the pets.
Really cannot believe that this tragedy happened, it is so sad to see all these cats and dogs suffer and then die out of hunger. What i think the owner should have done is to say that he did not have the money as well as the manpower to take in so many pets instead of just taking a lot of pets and end up starving them to death. Another of my thoughts is that if the owner had demanded an immediate pay then why did he have no money to buy food?
One would never imagine that such atrocious conditions exists in a so called boarding place for pets. Such greed for money by the operators that they subject and “torture” these innocent cats to such an appalling state. Cold and cruel feelings and not even a tinge of compassion in their hearts. Besides the pain these cats went through, eventually its these people who will pay a heavy price due to the law of karma of cause and effect. Sad that they are ignorant of the result of their cruelty and greed.
看完这些影片后，真的觉得很悲愤，也感受到宠物主人的痛苦。人性竟然可以如此冷血，实在接受不到店主说：我们人手不够等等的一大堆烂理由！！这是关乎生命的问题，但政府也允许罚款少数的金额，就可以让那冷血的人逍遥法外，为他的不责任拍拍屁股就可以走人。看着那些伤心的饲主，感觉到‘天理何在’啊！！
这突然让我想起,以前在槟城也是有一摊卖SATAY的，在人们发现那个肉质怪怪之后，查出在后巷发现很多猫皮，他是卖猫satay的…听到也觉得恶心，后来也是听说用一些钱就草草了事！！同样的，如果这是一间育儿中心，被饿死的是婴儿的话，那人们还会是同样的反应吗？？这不是一门生意，或是钱的问题，而是懂不懂得尊重生命！！
唉， 我们真的要正视动物虐待这课题。除了要加强法律效用，起到‘恐吓’作用 ( 可能需要更多人民之声，让当局觉悟），还有就是对小孩子的教育，让他们培养从小爱护动物之心，家里可以养些小动物，即使他们不喜欢某些动物也好，至少教会他们不可伤害它们…
有没有搞错，这么没有人性的事情都做的出，现在的社会到底怎么了?人们为了自己的利益，而做出那么冷血的事，只想到自己，而没有想到要尊重其他的生命，难怪现在的人会面对许多问题。所谓的和平，其实都必须建立在彼此互相的尊重，能站在彼此的立场去想，这样大家就能和平相处，世界才能和平共处。如果能从教育方面来着收手，尤其是佛法得教导，我相信在不久的时间内，我们就能看到它的不同。
If they did not have the resources to house the cats then why take in the cats…DUH! This is classical of GREED! Complete mismanagement… Cheating to be exact. Did they think that animals’ lives are less important and precious?? Very bad…
天啊！现今这个社会己经慢慢的变成这种现象。泠血，没有人性，无情和没有则任感。
其实相关这类似的情况，全世界每天都在发生。。。但是都可以避免的。不过，现在这个情况
使到许多爱动物的人士都感到气愤。这简直是谋杀生命。
现在，店主才用六千元就把事情结束吗？我看了都心寒。。。如此草率，我个人认为应该判这些
店主去动物庇护所去劳改，判罪坐牢。。。。我们一定要把这信息发出去，让多人去关注。
希望更多人得到醒觉，找回良心，一起去把爱散发出去。
It is sad to see pain and cruelty to this animals.The owners realy greedy,cruel and irresponsible,they are no right to treat those animals like that,must give them heaviest punishment!!Please be kind to all animals!!
这真的是人神共愤的事！最后的判决只是个区区RM6000的罚款？？？！！每一个小生命真的是只是值得那一个RM200？这国家也真的是太可怕了吧！
店主的冷血与不负责任为每一个饲主带来了多少的痛苦。看着那些成功被救活的小动物们，真的于心何忍？它们有做错了什么吗？
很多时候会听见身边的人说，这些有人照顾的小动物真的是好命。但有时想深一曾，它们不是好命，而是如果被善待的话，它们的生活可能是会过得比较好。好命的话，就不须肚子饿或口渴要人来喂了而饿肚子。
我认为饲主真的是在送小动物们去任何的pets boarding hotel前须要先查清楚或透过相熟的朋友介绍评价好和可靠、有责任的店主。我总觉得，这不是一门生意，而是有义务去照顾很多生命的一份任务，并不是只是有钱就可以解决的。
This has come to our attention because it has made the news. There are many incidents out there that we know nothing about- so much more cruelty to animals. The petitions are helpful but I think each person needs the courage to speak up when we see any form of abuse, to try and prevent it.
There use to be a dog catcher near my house as I was growing up and he would kill stray dogs very cruelly. There was once an incident just in front of me but I was too young to do anyhting and sadly my grandmother was afraid to get involved to stop him. I still remember that horrible scene quite vividly.
That same man died a very horrible death, homeless, diseased, living off scraps of food wherever he could find. It’s the price he paid for the horrible things he had done. Strangely enough he refused any help from anyone prefering to live and die like that. Maybe it was his way to make amends.
In any case each person needs to speak up and act against any form of cruelty and that action will spread, like it has now.
I extremely hate animal cruelty!I don’t understand why people do it.Animals are living,breathing creatures and they can feel pain too.If we treat humans as some people treat animals,how many would be hurt mentally and physically?It doesn’t matter what animal it is,,it must stop.No one has the right to hurt animals,it makes them cowards as animals can’t care and defend for themselves.People who are cruel to animals should be sent to jail.
12只猫猫的性命和百多只猫猫的惨痛经历，店主的冷血，不负责任，不守承诺和罔顾生命——原来这种种恶劣的行为，完全与人类精神背道而驰的行为只值马币6000块这么一点臭钱。如果你说世界很可怕，没有错，因为我们在最基本的尊重生命的基础上，就彻底的失败了。尊重生命，是世界和平的最根本精神。我们做不到这一点，还谈什么和平呢？我们就算做到人与人之间的和平，大自然呢？
大马还有很多人需要被教育，如何爱护和保障动物的权益。只有落后国家的人才会如此蛮横，不把动物放在眼里。继续教育大众吧，广传出去这个讯息。自己做好榜样给身边的人看。从茹素开始，到照顾路边的流浪狗和流浪猫。从社交媒体开始做，用文字和图片去感染所有人，唤醒大家心中的悲心。这绝对不是什么华而不实的文字，而是我本身也深受文字的影响。我一直都相信文字的力量。
This is a typical case of animal cruelty left in the hands of pet boarding places. While we leave it to the law to take care of the owners of these two pet boarding places, we should also ask ourselves why these incidents should happen. If all pet owners treat their pets as their children, would they leave them behind when they go for holidays? It is because the animals don’t talk and complain that we think we can just decide for them. Having pets is like having children, we must take responsibility because lives are at stake. Even if one has to leave their pet behind, they should check the condition of the boarding place before putting their pets there. I am sure there are some boarding places that are professional but may cost more.
Promoting vegetarian meals and taking part in animal liberation are some of the ways of promoting kindness to animals. In this borderless world we are in, each of us can play a role in creating awareness and promoting kindness to animals to our friends and get them to support the cause too.
It’s incredible! I’m speechless that the Petknodes owners are let off. Please do not forget how the hundreds of animals were left wondering without any care, no food, no water, some escaped the premises and the many heartbroken pet owners. Now we are to forget about it and let such cruelty go? Don’t you think more will be engaging in such cruelty because the society seems to be ok with it? Are you ok with this? Please spread the word around if you are NOT… that’s the least we can do.
http://www.nst.com.my/top-news/petknode-owners-let-off-with-fine-1.99261
PETALING JAYA:Animal lovers shed tears and a few shout profanities at the two owners of Petknode who were let off with RM200 fine for each of the 30 charges of neglecting pets left in their care last Hari Raya holidays.
They had previously pleaded guilty to the offence and were sentenced this morning. The duo paid a total fine of RM6000.
Angry pet owners expressed their shock and anger that the duo, Shahrul Azuwan Adanan, from Batang Kali, and Yushairi Khairuddin, from Port Dickson,were let off with only a fine.
Magistrate K.B. Elena Hong Tze Lan said she was bound by the provisions in the Animal Act to allow the duo to pay a fine over a jail term.
Affected pet owners indicated outside the courtroom that they were looking at taking civil action against Petknode.
Read more: Petknode owners let off with fine – Top News – New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/top-news/petknode-owners-let-off-with-fine-1.99261#ixzz1z4L9r7Qe
Dear all, the verdict is out and it is outrageously disappointing but expected. Both Petnode owners were fined with a mere RM6000, total of 30 charges. Each charge RM200 ONLY.
The Animal Act is really useless in this sense. What difference the animals have with us humans? Don’t we all have lives? Whatmore the animals are speechless and incapable of speaking up for themselves, but we human beings still treat them like dirt.
The Animal Act must be ammended immediately to ensure better rights for the animals. Let’s ride on this Petnode case to fight for the animals. Spread the word, share the news so everyone around the world will be aware and so to put pressure on the authorities to look into this matter immediately.
Below is the news article of TheStar regarding the verdict.
Pet centre owners fined RM6,000 for animal neglect
By TERENCE TOH
PETALING JAYA: Two owners of animal care centre Petknode, who pleaded guilty to 30 counts of animal neglect last year, have been fined RM200 for each charge.
Magistrate Elena Hong Tze Lan said she could not sentence them to prison time as she was bound by Section 44(2) of the Animal Act, which states that offenders must be given a chance to pay a fine before being sentenced to prison time.
Shahrul Azuwan Adanan and Yushairi Khairuddin, both 29, had been charged under Section 44 (1)(d) of the Animal Act 1953.
Many pet owners and animal lovers, who had gathered at the court, were disappointed with the sentence, with several in tears and yelling at the two accused as they left the court.
(Source http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/6/28/nation/20120628102246&sec=nation)
Animal cruelty is more widespread than we think and not only confined to incidences of abuse in pet homes as highlighted here etc.By far the worst and most deplorable examples of animal cruelty in terms of numbers are those animals being bred or kept for human consumption.See video ‘ Earthlings’ in this blog and you will be shocked at what is going on behind closed doors.
The petknode owners were fined RM6,000 for starving 30 cats. No fines for those that died. Neither was there any penalty for operating without a permit. Our society is lacking in spiritual values. If we are having some sense of peace and security it is mostly because we have laws and punishment if we break them.However, without true ethics and taking responsibility, even laws and punishments cannot stop cruelty. All of us are to be blamed when there are acts of cruelty . Even the owners who did not check properly the home they are sending their pets to. By sending pets to pethomes already is a pushing away of responsibility to others.Continuous education and creating awareness of acts of cruelty and gross irresponsible actions is one major way to impact people to stop doing stupid things and to trigger the goodness in people’s conscience.Social media is one super way to do this. I am doing it and hope everyone see the immense reach and effectiveness of it.
I read about this news last year. After that I told my brother about the new ’cause he own 2 dogs.He use to travel overseas alot, he’ll leave the dogs to his maid, but usually every day after I’ll go over to his house to keep an eye on his maid, see how she treat the dogs.
“For my opinion, don’t impose fine, just put them in jail for many many years ’cause its just like murdering.
Dear Rinpoche,
Thank you for sharing this news.
1) How i feel
– The pets owner: when they went for Happy holidays, did they ever call the pet shops? Did they really check the pet shop properly? Or they only look for the cheap price? (in the news some said yes, the shop looks good- i doubted.) If they really treasure the pets. They will not go for Cheapskate non license shop. They will check and research more. The boarding services was charge for as little as RM3.95 a night
– The pet shop owners, does he know he involved in murdering the animals? Or, did he regretted? From his statement, he was not regretted, even threaten to sue the people who broke into the shop.
– The audiences, the person who criticize what have they done? Sue the owner, asked Malaysia law to tighten up the FINES, what are the outcomes? Or end up talking emotionally and forget about it as time goes by?
2) What am i going to do? How i share with friends?
-Am blasting this news to friends using CAUSES, Facebook, googles+
– Another Happy Holiday is coming, HAri Raya, am going to remind people who have pets to be more mindful
– My own cats, take them home / look for my regular pets hosp to lodge them there / asked friend who not go back home to help in feeding/ Put food and water a lot more / come back earlier.
3) How can we prevent it
– Currently i will used social media and verbal (chit chat) session to request friends to spread this news (please don’t repeat again this Coming Holiday)
Latest news: 28 June 2012 http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/petknode-owners-let-off-with-rm6000-fine-no-jail/
– The two owners was fined RM 6000. RM 200 fine for 30 charges- after leaving 30 cats starving, dehydrated,covered in faeces .
(The 13 cats which die.. no news, no fined!)
Dear tfreon,
Petknode has been operating quite some time & have gained a lot of trust and loyal customers, including myself. A few years back, they have a very good service & they have maintained their place quite well. In fact, during my cats’ boarding, they have MMS-ed me their photos everyday & kept me updated.
They even have TWO RESIDENT CATS at the shop, which had made many to believe that they too are animal lovers.
Thus, good words spread & they have gained quite a reputation among pet owners.
On normal days, Petknode usually charge quite an expensive amount to board a cat for a day (can’t remember the exact price, sorry – maybe RM15-RM20). The RM3.95 was considered as a “promotion” price and I think with Petknode’s reputation, pet owners didn’t give much doubt or being skeptical about it.
I was told that the customers actually did call Petknode from time to time for updates, but they couldn’t be reached. They began to worry, but they couldn’t do much as they were out of town. They came to the petshop as soon as they came back from Raya and that is how this incident started.
If I’m not mistakenly recall during the press conference last year, (pls correct me if i’m wrong) they informed that Petknode is licensed, but it is licensed as “shop that sells pet stuff” not a “pet-boarding service shop”. And during the incident, their license has expired & they did not renew it.
What Petknode SHOULD DO was, make a limit of the number of bookings & boardings, according to their resource (space & workers), not taking ALL. It is a common sense of people doing business, provide ONLY WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD TO GIVE to your customers. Not empty promises, and surely NOT DEAD CATS.
FYI I didn’t board my cats during this incident, but I checked the place out that day & followed their press conference a few days after.
Btw, Petknode owners were charged for thirty cats just because only thirty reports were lodged. The fact was there were MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED CATS being left to starve to death in that small shop. Not only that, police had found ALMOST A HUNDRED MORE in their van & their house.
Abusing and treating animals and they can get away with just a fine???
Treating the animals in such inhumane ways is so cruel. How irresponsible the owners are? All the animals are undernourished and locked up. They would have been burnt to death if a fire occurred in the pet center. The Petknode owners are so greedy, operating without a license and thinking only for commercial gains without a thought or care for these animals. So many lives are in their hands and they have this irresponsible attitude!
Yes, we should make this go VIRAL! Let us be the voice for these animals who can’t talk or ask for help!
I think i would first ask, how many of the pets were abandoned there by their owners? Before everyone targets their anger to the shop keepers, perhaps the pet owners are the ones who should be held responsible as well. I suspect most of the 200 pets were starved because their owners abandoned them there & also probably didn’t pay the shop to continue feeding them? I haven’t read or watched the videos yet but sounds like only 20 owners have stormed the shop so where are the rest of the owners? Also, wouldn’t you first check out the boarding place conditions before sendig your pets there? I wouldn’t be too happy to see 200 animals under one roof and wonder about the quality of care they’re getting. Anyway, just saying…blame shouldn’t be all heaped on the boarding house owners.
SF,
First of all, the pets were not “abandoned” by their owners. They were “boarded” for a few days TEMPORARILY in the hands of the people that they TRUST.
Secondly, why i say “trust” is because Petknode has been operating quite some time & have gained a lot of trust and loyal customers, including myself. Previously, they have a very good service & they have maintained their place quite well. In fact, during my cats’ boarding, they have MMS-ed me their photos everyday & kept me updated.
They even have TWO RESIDENT CATS at the shop, which had made many to believe that they too are animal lovers.
Thus, good words spread & they have gained quite a reputation among pet owners.
Third, some pet owners left their own food at Petknode so that Petknode could help to feed their cats. Payments are made full before Petknode accepts any cats to be boarded. I have told that customers came to board their cats did not see any cats cramped up at the place, initially. My guess is they started to cramp the place up when the last day of operation (a few days before Raya, I suppose). Anyway, during this incident last year, it was found that Petknode not only keep the cats in the shop, but also in their VAN AND A HOUSE. Police have raided both and managed to retrieve more.
What Petknode SHOULD DO was, make a limit of the number of bookings & boardings, according to their resource (space & workers), not taking ALL. It is a common sense of people doing business, provide ONLY WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD TO GIVE to your customers. Not empty promises, and surely NOT DEAD CATS.
FYI I didn’t board my cats during this incident, but I checked the place out that day & followed their press conference a few days after.
The basis of negligence of animals or any living beings for that matter is ABUSE, CRUELTY and DON’T CARE attitude. Even if we are not animal lovers or keep any pet at all, there is no basis to mistreat any living beings that way, like starving them. This is due to selfishness to fulfill their own selfish wants and not need.
Petknode should be fined RM100K to show to others we can protect cruelty to animals and enact it by law. We should use the power of social media to highlight these cases to bring shame to such people publicly. Otherwise they may not feel it.
Dear Rinpoche:
I read about the news last year right after Hari Raya long holidays. Many cat owners and animal lovers came out and condemned the pet shop owner. If I remembered correctly the reason given by the pet shop owner was he could not get enough workers during the long holidays. What an irresponsible excuse!!!
He only had 2 outlets and if really did not manage to get enough manpower then at least he himself can feed the cat once a day. I believe that was not difficult at all since cat would not complain about the taste of the food and I’m sure they would eat whatever cat food that given to them.
No matter what that is no any excuse or valid reason to act cruelly to any being. Together we must educate everyone regardless race, culture and religion; if they are Buddhist then may explain from Dharma point of view, if not just share with them why being vegetarian is good from health care perspective. Encourage more people to become vegetarian, as it is the basic requirement to stop cruelty to any being.
Thank you and take care.
With love,
VP
I’ve read quite a lot about this case in the papers. The owners of Petknode claim to be animal lovers but what they did and their negligence proved otherwise. It was probably due to greed that they decided to take in more pets than they can care for. Even if found guilty, the laws in our country only provide light punishment for such offences. The government should change this. Animals deserve better treatment. I hope this case will not be swept under the carpet and forgotten after a while (this is a typical Malaysian habit).
Om Mani Peme Hum for the cats and dogs, for the died cats and dogs hopefully u may take a good rebirth and can meet Dharma in future. The operators should not just be fine and jail, they need to punish to do social works like take care of old folk, take bath with them, throw their soil to generate their compassion.
We should going to join the petition and spread it out through social media to create the awareness for more peoples again this cruelty action.
This is what happen when the main concerns is always making money…profits. Apology and sorry is how they response. I hope the owners will realise.
The cats and dogs that suffers the condition at petknode, has create agood cause for a realization to the public. Om mani pedme hum… May they have a swift rebirt.
🙁 It is very disheartening to see pain and cruelty inflicted on animals just because it can be done! The positive thing (if I could use such words) that came out of it is that people are responding. A huge public outcry spread throughout the nation. Social media platforms are fully utilized to create more awareness against animal abuse. People are speaking up for those who can’t. People are stopping acts of brutality against the weak. And for starters, treat every animal stray or domesticated with love and respect. Educate others about animal rights. Find out where the nearest animal shelter is located. Ask what they need. Volunteer. Be a part of the solution. Love animals. Love mankind. Love yourself. _/\_
It’s very disturbing to see what crooks the owners of Petknode are. Using animals as means to earn money and not taking care of them is way too inhumane. We must all do something to pressure the government to amend laws to punish those who abuse animals.
This is the link to a survey conducted by The Dept of Veterinary Services Malaysia to develop the Animal Welfare Bill 2012. Deadline for submission is 30 June 2012. Please pass the link around to your friends and get them to complete it. http://research.dvs.gov.my/survey/index.php?sid=56159
All of us combined can make a difference!
Often we think of cruelty towards animals as a violent act that serves to inflict physical harm on to the animal but in reality one of the greatest abuse is unwittingly denying them of their freedom to move (e.g. caging them up all the time) and treating them with sheer neglect. The unfortunate incident at Petknode has brought some of this abuse to the limelight.
However even more needs to be done by neglectful owners of dogs and cats. There are people with so many cats that they cannot to adequately care for them. As for dogs, I have seen more than my fair share of “pet” dogs who are chained up 24/7 or kept in the cage all the time. The only attention some of these pets get are the funny noises owner make as they pass the cages.
I know of a family who seem to be decent people and yet they have a pet dog whom they profess to love and yet, is chained up permanently in the open. They feed the dog with leftovers in take away boxes brought back from the restaurant where they have their dinner. The dog doesn’t get to eat every day. What is truly heart breaking is how happy the dog is to see them when they return.
Petknode is the tip of the iceberg of what human beings do to animals. My guess which I hope I am wrong is that in a year, this incident will be forgotten.
There ought to be enforceable laws at the Federal level and a real enforcement body to mete out adequate punishment to animals abusers. But then again, can we regulate cruelty or kindness?
How in the world that they treat the animals in such a way? Totally unacceptable with the excuses of resources!!! It’s so irresponsible. It’s so heart breaking and they can just abandon and let them starve to death.
If they really cannot take care of them then don’t harm them. Keeping them and not attending to them is call torture.
So disturbing. Imagine if this happen to us that being trap and without food? If we don’t like to be treated as such so do the animals.
We must have compassion towards the animals because they can’t tell us in our language what they like and dislike. So be more caring and loving to them.
What a sad news to show the cruelty of human.Just because we thought that we are “wiser” so we can do what ever we like towards animals which never have chance to complaint. Imagine one day if we become animal, do we like such treatment?stop to plant the seed of cruelty, being kind and compassionate to other first.
I feel TERRIBLY DISTURBING ><!!!!!! All these year, Malaysia Animal act not doing well, AT ALL. Not like others country, abuser will REALLY caught and face the punishment. Why am i say that? Because there should be a NEW ACT to animal abuser THIS YEAR 2012,abuser will face a fine of up to RM100,000 and a jail term of not more than six months under the Animal Welfare Act to be tabled in Parliament. But it seems nothing happen yet. And this is why, a petition has begun.
This link is announcing the New Act in Malaysia 2012 for cruelty to Animal last year 2011.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/9/5/nation/20110905195205&sec=nation&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
I will definitely spread this petition out through social media to urge everyone to sign. And if necessary, i will print out the petition and ask people to sign.
The petition does help!
http://stopanimalabuse.petfinder.my/petition_546.htm#SIGN
Thank you Phillis. Petition helps to get the word out there.
We are in for a big surprise if we think that such social ill behaviors are only restricted to people who causes harm towards animals and has nothing to do with us (referring to those who are not crazy about animals) If you are NOT an animal lover, this message applies just the same for you. Think again for the safety of your children, loved ones, friends… Animal abusers live in our neighborhoods, goes to the same school as our children. It’s time to take this matter seriously and do all we can to STOP THEM.
—
Research indicates that animal abusers are 5 times more likely to be violent in society. When they are not punished, they continue their abuse on children, women and society at large. Consequently, Governments all over the world have begun to take animal cruelty seriously by imposing punitive cruelty penalties and have encouraged Responsible Pet Ownership.
These people are truly irresponsible and cruel. They must be taught a lesson.life is precious whether it is beings or animals.
This outrage brought together many animal lovers and humans who stood for the rights of animals and thanks to social media, animal lovers quickly got together to form FB sites to create awareness. Howelse can we quickly spread the news other than social media!
If Petknode owners are found guilty (which by the way they pleaded guilty) they will face a maximum of six months’ jail, a RM200 fine, or both for each offense upon conviction. This is absolute, ridiculous punishment for such cruelty.
Petknode verdict will be out tomorrow. http://news.malaysia.msn.com/regional/article.aspx?cp-documentid=250320335
Please everyone leave your comments on this blog as thousands visits daily and this can serve as a platform for people all over the world to know what has happened, what can be done and to create more awareness. As you can see, our malaysian law at the moment is not strong and this will not deter people from committing such cruelty. We must do all we can so this does not happen again in our country.
A RM200 fine for all that cruelty and sufferings caused to so many lives??? Even a simple traffic offense imposes heavier penalty! No wonder pet shops are mushrooming. I heard from several animal activists that stray dogs are classified as rodent hence killing them is legal. OMG! The activists have been protesting for years yet the law remains unchanged. Does anyone reading this know anyone who can help improve animal rights law??
In regards to the law, here’s a statement by Dato’ Sri Khalid bin Abu Bakar. My malay is not that great and is an attempt to translate it for the benefit of readers. Please forgive me if my translation is not entirely complete or accurate :
Statement by the Chief of Police, promising to the necessary attention to this matter
Dato’ Sri Khalid bin Abu Bakar on behalf of the police force wishes to express that they understand the feelings felt by the owners of the victimized pets.
To date, the police have received 74 responses about this case involving Petknode. Necessary attention will be given towards this case as well as befitting lawful actions enforced on Petknode who failed to provide services as promised.
Cases involving mistreatment of animals are usually investigated by the Department of Veterinary (JPV). Many other countries have put in lawful acts to protect animals. The police force is not denying that it’s time to revisit such acts involving animals in this country. The police will work together with JPV in regards to this matter.
The police will assist pet owners to locate their lost pets which are still alive and urge any animal rescuers who have rescued the pets to return the pets to JPK Selangor or to the police department
—
KENYATAAN TIMBALAN KETUA POLIS NEGARA:
POLIS BERJANJI MEMBERI PERHATIAN SERIUS
DAN MENGAMBIL TINDAKAN SEWAJARNYA
8 September 2011 Bukit Aman – Dalam memberi respons kepada kes yang melibatkan Pet Hotel “Petknode”, Dato’ Sri Khalid bin Abu Bakar, Timbalan Ketua Polis Negara ingin memaklumkan bahawa pihak polis memahami perasaan pemilik-pemilik kucing yang terlibat.
Sehingga kini sebanyak 74 laporan polis telah dibuat oleh pemilik kucing dan disiasat oleh JPV. Walau bagaimanapun, pihak polis berjanji akan memberi perhatian serius terhadap kes ini dan tindakan undang-undang yang sewajarnya akan diambil ke atas pemilik kedai “Petknode” yang tidak dapat memberi perkhidmatan yang telah dijanjikan.
Pihak polis mengakui bahawa pada kebiasaannya kes yang melibatkan haiwan termasuk penganiayaan haiwan di Malaysia adalah disiasat oleh Jabatan Perkhidmatan Veterinar (JPV). Walau bagaimanapun, kesedaran hak-hak asasi bukan sahaja kepada manusia malah untuk haiwan telah meningkat dan banyak negara lain juga telah mula memberi penekanan berkenaan kes penganiayaan haiwan. Oleh yang demikian, pihak polis tidak menafikan sudah tiba masanya akta-akta sedia ada mengenai haiwan harus dikaji semula. Pindaan yang bersesuaian selari dengan arus kesedaran ini adalah perlu. Pihak polis akan bekerjasama dengan pihak JPV dalam perkara ini.
Dalam pada itu, pihak polis akan membantu pemilik kucing terlibat untuk mendapatkan kembali kucing yang masih hidup. Pihak polis ingin menyeru sesiapa yang telah mengambil mana-mana kucing atas alasan menyelamatkan kucing tersebut supaya menyerahkan kucing terbabit kepada pihak Jabatan Perkhidmatan Veterinar Selangor ataupun pihak polis.
Petknode must be out there to make fast money and are not a responsible organisation who really care and like animals. They are cruel and irresponsible, great shame Petknode! They do not have a licence in the first place. How dare they accept pets and money from owners and not take responsibility.
This is indeed very terrible. Like what HH Dalai Lama said, “If you cannot be compassionate to others, at least do not harm others”.
I myself is not an “animal person” per se, but what I learnt is that being kind to animals is very powerful because animals cannot say thank you in return (unlike when we kind to a person, we can expect some favour in return).
As to this incident, while we blame the shop owner for mistreating the animals, I think the owners should take part of the blame too. From the video, this incident happened during a long holiday and many pet owners left their pet in this “hostel”. I have a question, if they are really kind to the pets, why not bring them back to their home town? Can they get their friend to take care, instead of just trusting some unknown shop owner? I am not trying to defend the shop owner, but the I think the pet owner need to reflect too.
There are many pet owners that I know, when the pets are cute, they play with them, spend time with them, but when they are not cute, they just leave him aside or give it away to someone else or just dump them. There are pet owners who stay in condo, and when they are not allowed to have them in the condo because they make noise, etc, they just give them up.. As a responsible owner, may be they should check out if they are allowed to have pets in their premise, and if they can’t why not move with the pets?
I will post this news onto my Facebook wall and friends wall, and post it in other forums to create awareness. Pets are friends, not just another handbag…
Im very angry hearing these news! What kind of human are they? Dont they also have their loves one? The cats and dogs is like one of our nearest kin, imagine these selfish lazy cruel people starved them to death? They deserved life sentence!
I look at the badly malnourished cats in the video, so scrawny and on the verge of dying. They had been beautiful cats before. Did they survive the ordeal of such heartless treatment? My heart goes out to these innocent beings who never did anyone, including the Petknode owners, any harm. Such callous cruel behavior cannot go unpunished. Will await anxiously the verdict, tomorrow, on the Petknode people. If they get away lightly, there will be more justified outrage. Shall spread awareness of this case of vicious animal cruelty around on Facebook and among friends,after tomorrow’s verdict.
I have personally rescued 5 stray cats which we have adopted as pets.The 5th and youngest was discarded and left to die when she was hardly a week old. (So cruelty to animals is nothing new as one of the celebrities said in an interview).We had to nurse her very carefully because she was so frail and fragile; her life was hanging on a thread.I named her Zoe after my Tibetan Refuge name. Today she’s the most rumbustious of my cats.
It’s such a surprise how the pet boarding centre owners/staff cld sleep thorugh the week when they were away on Raya break , without any conscience or thought for the cats they abandoned in their centre . Why do they choose to do this “business” if they have no love for animals ? It amazes me on the extend of animal cruelty that can occur in this time and age . Or maybe that’s why we are in the degenerate age . Human have become super materialistic and totally uncompassionate ! 300cats at rm300 makes 90000 !! That sum surely sounds profitable for 10days job …… All animal boarding centers or even pet shops should be checked regularly . There must be stricter laws and controls on a regular basis . Spot checks etc should be done . So such places cannot hide behind nice websites and “made up” reviews . It’s similar to childcare centers . In this country we have had several tragic accidents in such centers where babies are hurt or even loose their lives over irresponsible acts of the caregiver . Animals and babies are equally important . They are helpless and vulnerable and hence should be loved and cared for. Children too should be taught and nurtured from young to love and care for animals . My children will most definitely practice this . And with more awareness through all forms of media , people must STOP animal cruelty !
Dear Grace, I like your comment. Many have no love nor even like the animals but taking care of the animals can be extremely easy because they do not complain. As long as they are still alive when they were picked up. They will save all the food and care taker’s salary in order to make much more.
Educate the kids will be the right way to go.
It is utterly irresponsible of Petknode to operate a pet boarding house and neglected its duty in such inhumane manner.
Even if the owner had treated the boarding house purely as a business, not out of love for animals, he had failed as a businessman.
In this part of the world, cases like this usually would just be hushed up and forgotten. I’m glad that this has gone public . Yes, if we believe that all beings deserve care and loving kindness, we should make this go VIRAL !
This is completely unacceptable, the management of the animal boarding justify their behaviour by saying it was due to a shortage of staff. Greed for money causes this tragedy to happen. Cats are animal, but this does not mean they can be treated this way. It is important to educate people that this behaviour is totally not acceptable. If these people can treat the animals this way, most likely they will treat human beings the same way.
OMB!!! This is very very disturbing news. How can these people so cruel and irresponsible on their business??? And is ridiculous that they wants to sue the public by breaking in the shop!!! What a joke! They took people’s money and did not take care of their pets, for me my 2 pets are my family. I totally understand how the pet’s owners felt. If i were them i will gone crazy!!
A pet shop with no compassion shown, geessss! Actually there are many animal cruelty happen in Malaysia and i think government has to really be aware of this issues. We have to also share these news to create awareness, especially on social media to stop animal cruelty.
In another hand we have to also teach and educate the children to love and to be kind to the animals. Thank you Rinpoche for the post.
The operator of PETNODE should be taught a very heavy lesson for cheating, being irresponsible, cruelty toward animals and making lame excuses!!! Unfortunately, the animal cruelty law in Malaysia is not that stringent yet. A new animal cruelty bill will only be tabled out some time later. They are getting away easy this time…. 🙁 I do hope they sincerely regret their action and start doing a lot of good deeds to make up for their negative actions.
Many has done this and got away for the longest time. Not anymore… Thanks to social media, good and especially bad news like such, spreads like wild fire these days. We should also do our part and expose things like this if we happen to chance upon it. Do not keep quiet, because it will only allow these evil people to continue getting away. >(
Can you imagine when you see your child in childcare centre being treated this way? When a human being especially a child is mistreated, all the empathy, anger and frustration arise and we would do something about it. However, when animals are being neglected or abuse, we usually do not do much to save them simply because animals cannot speak for themselves and ask for help. Animals do have emotions like fear, anxiety, happiness etc. Animal cruelty is definitely a serious issue. I think by stopping animal abuse, we are able to stop violence against people. We should not be selective on being nice, if we can be nice to the people around us, why not animals?
Shame on those who left the poor helpless cats unattended!! Don’t they have a heart!?
What did they had in mind? Like those cats are robots – can switch off power supply n just leave them aside?? Switch on again at their convenience? I am totally disappointed with humanity! I hope they get the heaviest punishment by law and karma will get to them… Soon
Without social media, most of us would not know this is happening. Hence this is a good example (sadly at the expanse of those cats) of how Social media work! Good things will spread easily, BAD news spread like wild fire.
It is so sad to watch those felines barely alive after having been starved over the holiday season. To think that the shop owner could just lockup their premises and leave those poor things behind with no one else to look after them. These animals were in cages – there was no way they could fend for themselves. How irresponsible of the shop owner to behave in this way.
They only had a trading license to sell cat food and that had expired before they took the animals in for boarding over the holiday season.
I would think that those people do not have a conscience to start off with. We are talking of hundred of lives at stake.
It is so disturbing to see how anyone can actually treat animals in such manner. Petknode is a paid boarding place. Owners pay RM 300 for 10 days of boarding and the management has the cheek to say that they lack manpower. Where did the money go?
But what I find it more disappointing is Malaysia animal act in the country. It was mentioned in one of the video above that the government has not increase the penalty of animal cruelty to RM 100k. Therefore, I check the current fine and it is ONLY RM 200. No wonder, animals are badly treated in Malaysia and abusers get away with it so easily.
Check out this website,
http://stopanimalabuse.petfinder.my/
It has more stories of animal abuse in Malaysia, some recent.
I will sign the petition to increase the penalty and meanwhile will find ways to get the government to accelerate the revision in the animal act.
We think we are the most intelligent specie on earth and that gives us the right to abuse species below us. This status and right are merely conjured up by us as an excuse to abuse other species. The documentary, Earthlings’ is a fine illustration of our abuse against our own true nature. Cultivate well to accord ourselves to our true nature. Only then we will find animals are also spiritual beings just going through animal form.
It takes so long for the verdict to come out. But treating animals in this inhumane way is damn right cruel. No one should ever do this to any being who are helpless and could not express themselves verbally.
The Petknode owners are greedy, cruel and should be banished from dealing with any animals. Let’s hope that the verdict will serve some justice to the pet owners who have suffered so much. I really feel sad for the cats. The conditions of the cats are so bad that even a non-animal lover will feel for them.
I will share this to as many people as possible so that all are aware that animal cruelty should be stopped!
It is s unfair that they are fined a mere RM6000!!! Is Justice served? We have to change the laws so that animals will be protected. The 13 cats died in vain and the other 300 cats suffered so much. SO your part. Take this survey to make a difference.
http://research.dvs.gov.my/survey/index.php?sid=56159
I knew about this case last year when this incidence happened and this shocked me. I am amazed that this pet hotel (although run illegally) could do this even though they know well that this is their business. Worst is that animal lodging is not cheap, they clearly just take their money and forget about their responsibilities
After having known Rinpoche, I learn to slow down my pace and am more careful to animals, including those I personally don’t quite like, such as cats. I try to do whatever I can to help animals in need. For instance, I know an elderly woman in my neighbourhood who has been keeping dog, perhaps out of loneliness and want to have a being to keep her company, but who unfortunately does not take good care of them. A while ago, she euthanized a dog which she thought was beyond rescuable. I was a bit late in reversing the situation, as she took this action too fast. Sometimes later, she takes in another dog, I swear that I will do my best to take care of this dog so every weekend I will go to her place to check on the dog, giving her some basic cares while keeping the old lady for a while. I help her bringing her dog for grooming, as I know she will not do it.
I have mentioned to her about karma, but she is not receptive. Her mind is close and so I can only do the best I can.
The society as a whole needs to express more kindness towards animals. I believe strict regulations are good, although ultimately many things need to come from our hearts. Education is important, from parents and the social media. I believe too pet businesses shouldn’t be too money minded, as they are dealing with living beings, those who can be so loyal to us, those who do not harm but offer endless unconditional cares.
Terribly disturbing! This type of behavior shows that people have reached a level of ignorance and self-cherishing that they actually show zero appreciation and respect towards another life. This shows the attitude of “life is cheap”. In this case, the beings involved are cats and a dog. However, from my understanding of reinforcing karma, our “couldn’t care less” attitude and action can strengthen and, before we know it, we could not care less about another human life as well. In fact, some would argue that we are already at that point where we no longer cherish the precious human life. From this incident, I, once again, see the importance of Dharma that teaches us to act virtuously with motivation to benefit others. If we could put ourselves in other people’s shoes, I trust that we would choose and act differently. Thank you Rinpoche for this post.
At the human level, we should extend our kindness and compassion to the animals as they too experience pain & suffering. On the spiritual level, we will probably be an animal in our future lives and what if we are the ones being abused? Better collect the merits of loving and compassion now, to not have to suffer the pains in the next lives.
How do you feel after reading this and watching the videos? What are your thougths? What are you going to do? TR