Perak govt doubles funding for Pawsitive Initiative to tackle stray animal issues

IPOH: The Perak state government has increased its allocation for the Perak Pawsitive Initiative from RM150,000 to RM300,000, underscoring its commitment to addressing stray animal issues in a more structured and long-term manner, says Sandrea Ng.

The state local government committee chairman said the increased allocation, recently approved, would allow the programme to be expanded beyond its current coverage. An additional RM100,000 has also been earmarked for the construction of animal pounds and shelters.

“The increase is necessary as demand for subsidised neutering programmes had exceeded available funding.

“This year, activities were carried out in five locations, primarily in the Kinta and Kampar districts, with support from local assemblymen.

“However, requests to extend the programme to other districts such as Taiping and Manjung could not be met due to funding constraints,” she told reporters after launching the Perak Pawsitive web application and closing the Perak Pawsitive Initiative 2025 at a hall here today (Dec 28).

Ng said with the increased allocation, the programme would be expanded next year and conducted more frequently than the five sessions held this year.

Through five subsidised neutering sessions, the initiative surpassed its original target of sterilising 1,000 animals, recording a total of 1,008 dogs and cats neutered by the end of 2025.

The programme, which began in 2024, aims to tackle stray animal issues by addressing the problem at its source through preventive measures.

Ng said via the web application, the feeder mapping programme was also launched, registering community feeders to enable better data collection and coordination.

She said data on volunteer feeders would be initially collected in areas under the Ipoh City Council before being expanded to other local authority areas.

“The initiative is expected to help reduce hygiene-related issues and enable more targeted enforcement, as animal capture operations had previously been carried out in bulk due to the lack of accurate data.

“To support this effort, the digital application will be introduced from Jan 1, starting as a web-based platform, to facilitate coordination between feeders, NGOs and MBI,” she said.

Ng said meanwhile, MBI also addressed public concerns over its previous cooperation with the Ipoh Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA) under the trap-neuter-release and manage (TNRM) red collar programme.

She clarified that while dogs with red collars were previously assumed to have been neutered and were not prioritised for capture, monitoring later revealed cases involving dog bites and misuse of red collars on unsterilised dogs.

“As a result, exemptions based on red collars are no longer recognised. Instead, MBI has strengthened its collaboration with Perak Pawsitive, focusing on structured programmes such as subsidised neutering and public education to ensure a more targeted and effective approach to managing stray animal issues,” she said.

On Dec 12, ISPCA filed an originating summons against MBI and the Perak Government, seeking declarations on whether the disposal of dogs shown in a video that emerged in July was done legally.

The originating summons was filed through lawyer Cheang Lek Choy at the High Court here on Nov 17.

Cheang said that he and ISPCA president Ricky Soong served the notices to the defendants on Nov 24.

Soong had urged the government to reinstate the TNRM programme to reduce the stray population, establish microchipping and source-management systems, and publish all data on stray animal handling and disposal activities.