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GEORGE TOWN: The High Court today allowed a pet owner to sue the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) for negligence for the murder of his dog in a street trapping operation on Batu Ferringhi beach here two years ago.
Beachboy Chendeladevan Kuppusamy, 51, had attempted to sue MBPP after his dog “Butcho,” 15, was shot with tranquilizers by MBPP dog hunters and then dragged by the neck to a municipal truck.
However, the Court of Sessions here had dismissed his case, filed on July 30, 2018, on technical grounds, one of which was that Butcho was an unlicensed dog.
Chendeladevan, assisted by pro-bono attorneys, had appealed to the Superior Court saying his dog had been licensed since 2014, alleging negligence against the city council.
Today, Judicial Commissioner Wong Hok Chong allowed the appeal and ordered the case to be tried.
“This matter must be decided at trial and cannot be summarily dismissed,” he said today when pronouncing his decision. He ordered MBPP to pay RM4,000 in costs.
Chendeladevan was represented by Marcia López while Karin Lim appeared for MBPP.
According to Chendeladevan’s statement, MBPP forcibly took his dog off a public beach in bad faith and then caused his death.
He also claimed that the dog hunters had lied about Butcho’s whereabouts when he went to the kennel to claim him.
This was after an officer claimed the dog escaped from the truck on its way to the kennel. Later, an outside informant told Chendeladevan that Butcho had died.
Claim general, aggravated and exemplary damages and other reparations that the court deems appropriate. He also demands that Butcho’s remains be returned to him.
On February 28, 2018, MBPP dog hunters captured Butcho on the Batu Ferringhi public beach near the Golden Sands Resort, as part of a stray dog arrest operation following complaints of stray dog attacks.
However, when Butcho was taken away, the tourists reprimanded the town hall because the older dog was “docile and harmless.” There was a large-scale protest on the beach when Butcho was declared “dead”.
Chendeladevan, in his statement to the court, claimed that witnesses saw Butcho being dragged by the neck to a municipal truck despite having an identification plate.
Mayor Yew Tung Seang later said that Butcho had died of old age and of cardiac arrest.
He said the dog was considered a stray because he was not licensed, and that the council had every right to seize him.
An application for a dog license was only made after the dog trapping operations were carried out, Harian Metro reported.
In a defense statement in court, MBPP had said that the dog hunters had in fact shot Butcho with a tranquilizer as allowed by law. He said the dog had fled to the sea after he was shot, forcing dog hunters into the sea to rescue him.
Butcho was later placed in a net and in a dog loading truck, the council said, denying that he dragged the animal by the neck into the vehicle.
MBPP said he was alive and “stunned” when he was in the truck, according to the account of dog hunter Wan Mohd Arif Hakimi Wan Deraman.
Arif discovered that Butcho was “out of breath” and “probably dead” in the truck as the canine headed to the council kennel in Sungai Pinang, the statement read.
The council said it sent Butcho’s remains to the Department of Veterinary Services office in Bukit Mertajam.
He said that when Chendeladevan had come to claim the dog, Arif told him that Butcho had escaped on his way to the kennel, to calm him down at the kennel office.
The MBPP also denied claims that a kennel staff had asked Chendeladevan to renew Butcho’s dog license to claim the canine.
