AMPANG, Oct 29 — Tengku Permaisuri of Selangor Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin graced the Stray Free Selangor programme in conjunction with World Animal Day 2022 at the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) today.
World Animal Day is celebrated on October 4 every year.
Present to greet her were SPCA patron Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, SPCA chairman Christine Chin and the former director-general of the Department of Veterinary Services Datuk Dr Quaza Nizamuddin Hassan Nizam.
Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin, who is also the royal patron of the programme, witnessed the handing over of cheques by the Selangor Menteri Besar Incorporated, Better Foundation Malaysia, Konsortium Jaringan Selangor, Asia Pacific University and Mystique Universal Sdn Bhd totalling RM390,000.
She left SPCA at about 1pm after taking a tour of its cat care centre.
According to Chin, SPCA encourages large-scale spaying and neutering of stray animals under the programme to reduce their population and raise awareness among the public to be kind to the animals.
She said donations allow them to provide up to 80 per cent discount to rescuers of stray cats and dogs to have the animals spayed and neutered at SPCA.
Meanwhile, Lee said the Animal Welfare Act 2015 should be tightened with heavier penalties for misdemeanours as well as mistreatment and abuse of animals.
"Under the act, a person commits an offence of animal cruelty if he cruelly beats, kicks, ill-treats, tortures, infuriates or terrifies any animal. Animal abusers could be fined between RM20,000 and RM100,000 and/or face a jail term of up to three years,” he said.
He urged the public to lodge reports of animal abuse to bring offenders to justice.
— Bernama
