PETITION TO SARAWAK STATE GOVERNMENT BAN THE CONSUMPTION OF DOG AND CAT MEAT IN SARAWAK We, the undersigned request the Sarawak State Government to ban the consumption of dog and cat meat in Sarawak for the following reasons: The animals are tortured before being killed because the consumers believe that this helps to tenderize the meat and make it tastier. The methods of torture commonly used include skinning animals alive, beating animals, boiling animals alive, burning animals alive, suffocating the animals, and causing the animals to bleed to death. This is in direct violation of the Sarawak Veterinary and Public Health Ordinance 1999 (Part VIII – Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), and punishable by law. The consumption of dog and cat meat poses a health risk because these animals carry bacteria and viruses capable of causing serious illness, and death, in humans. The World Health Organization (WHO) has linked dog meat to outbreaks of trichinellosis, cholera, and rabies, and notes that, “This problem is rampant across South East Asia.” The handling and slaughter process exposes people consuming the meat to increased risks from Ascarid, hookworm and tapeworm. Dogs and cats that eat dead bats and birds that carry corona-viruses (i.e. the viruses that cause SARS, MERS and EBOLA); these could easily transmit to humans who consume the infected cat and dog meat. There is no refrigeration involved – the butchered dogs and cats hang on hooks in the open air providing perfect breeding grounds for bacteria, open to the elements and insects. This poses a high risk of Salmonella, Staphylococcus, Clostridium, Campylobacter. The dog and cat meat trade is openly operating within sight of children and can be responsible for damaging mental health: Children lose empathy and become desensitized to cruelty, empathy is vital to build socially competent, cohesive, integrated, cooperative, sustainable and peaceful communities. The process begins with desensitization or loss of feeling, whereby children become able to witness the neglect, hurting, harming or killing of an animal and yet remain indifferent. The barbaric and cruel practice of eating household pets is denounced around the world, yet it still happens in our own backyard. Malaysian laws do not prohibit people from consuming or selling dog and cat meat. The Sarawak SPCA is opposed to the use of dogs and cats for food as these animals have a specific place in Sarawak society as companion animals and close working partners of humans (e.g. sniffer dogs, police dogs, and guide dogs). We echo the words of the Chief Minister of Sarawak, Tan Sri Adenan Satem, who said, “We must remember that while Sarawak belongs to us, it also belongs to the monkeys and the deer, they have been here much longer than we have. They have no members in the Sarawak Legislative Assembly. They can’t speak for themselves so human beings must speak for them.” We, the undersigned, hereby call on the State Government to ban the consumption of dog and cat meat in Sarawak, and to amend the Sarawak Veterinary and Public Health Ordinance 1999 to include specific offences for the consumption of cat and dog meat.