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GEORGE TOWN: A pet owner will finally have his day in court after the High Court allowed him to sue the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) for alleged negligence, causing the death of his dog.
Judicial Commissioner Wong Hok Chong accepted the appeal and ordered the case to be tried.
“This matter must be decided at trial and cannot be summarily dismissed,” he said when pronouncing his decision.
He ordered MBPP to pay RM4,000 in costs.
According to beachboy K. Chendeladevan’s claim statement, MBPP forcibly took his dog off a public beach in bad faith and then caused his death.
He also claimed that dog hunters had lied about the whereabouts of his dog, named Butcho, 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.
Chendeladevan was represented by Marcia López while Karin Lim appeared for MBPP.
On February 28, 2018, MBPP dog hunters trapped their 15-year-old dog on the Batu Ferringhi public beach as part of a stray dog trapping operation following complaints of stray dog attacks.
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 Datuk 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 had taken place, Harian Metro said.
In a defense statement in court, MBPP said that the dog hunters did indeed shoot 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 kennel truck, according to the city council, denying that he had 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 came to claim the dog, Arif told him that Butcho had run away on the way to the kennel, to calm him down at the kennel office.
The MBPP also denied claims that a member of the kennel staff had asked Chendeladevan to renew Butcho’s dog license to claim the canine.
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