KUALA LUMPUR – An animal welfare organisation has offered a RM10,000 reward for information leading to the identification and prosecution of those responsible for a series of animal deaths at Universiti Malaya (UM).
A poster shared by the Selangor Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) today revealed that the non-profit is offering the reward to anyone who can provide details that could result in the “arrest and prosecution” of the perpetrators.
The group also announced plans to hold a press conference, which will be open to the public, at its Ampang Jaya headquarters on January 7.
Two dead cats, showing signs of alleged mutilation, were found at UM’s Faculty of Business and Economics on December 12 and 16, prompting the university’s student union to lodge a police report on December 17.
A second police report was filed on December 20 following the discovery of four more dead cats across different locations on campus.
On Christmas Day, another cat and a dog were found dead near the university’s sports arena, both with apparent slash wounds to their stomachs and their intestines removed.
Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Rusdi Mohd Isa confirmed today that police have questioned a UM lecturer, several students, and an animal rights activist in connection with the deaths.
Rusdi stated that the body of a cat found on December 21 was handed over to the police by the activist and sent to a veterinary laboratory for examination and an autopsy, which is scheduled to take place tomorrow.
The remains of the cat discovered on December 25 in the parking lot of UM’s Faculty of Sports and Exercise Science were also sent for examination and autopsy.
The investigation follows earlier statements from the police, which indicated that closed-circuit television footage showed stray dogs attacking the cats. However, they noted the absence of eyewitnesses to the incidents.
While the police also mentioned that the Veterinary Services Department had confirmed that the injuries sustained by the cats were consistent with wild dog attacks, the Stray Animal Foundation Malaysia (SAFM) has disputed this claim.
SAFM argued that an examination of the cats’ carcasses revealed injuries, such as severed limbs, which are more consistent with the use of sharp objects than with random bites from dogs. – December 27, 2024