Thank You, YB Hannah Yeoh (press Conference)

The ADUN of Subang Jaya, YB Hannah Yeoh, called for a press conference today, to talk about our win in the Sunsuper Dreams and also about the work we do at AnimalCare and the subject of responsible pet ownership.

Journalists from four local newspapers were present and we spoke about many things related to the state of animal welfare in the Klang Valley.

Of course, I talked about CNRM and urged residents to participate in it. I impressed upon the journalists to inform their readers what actually happens when they pick up the phone and call their local council to complain about strays animals in their neighbourhood �- these animals would be captured and euthanised at the pounds.

According to statistics revealed by the YB, the number of stray dogs captured by the MPSJ (which covers Subang Jaya, Puchong, Sri Serdang and Sri Kembangan) last year amounted to more than 2000 and the number of stray cats, 129. However, the top daily complaints received by MPSJ is on stray cats.

I also emphasized that one of the main functions of AnimalCare is to educate the public to be more tolerant and compassionate towards animals. The journalists had not heard about CNRM, and were quite surprised to hear that we recommend returning the animals to the colony should we fail to find them a home. I explained the function of returning animals as a mean of preserving the eco-system and how a neutered animal will not breed and produce new strays. I told them the function of ear-notching as well. In short, I told them many things, and I can only hope the journalists will write about them so that the public will be better informed.

After the press conference, I had to repeat everything in Cantonese to the journalists from the Chinese newspapers. I hope I said it right and they heard me right! I don’t want to be misquoted by the press, please. �One of the journalists from the English press arrived very late, so I had to repeat some information for him as well!

Here are some photos from today’s press conference:

�Since it was just the few of us, it was held in the conference room.
I’m definitely more comfortable in this informal manner.

�It was almost like teaching as I preferred to write everything down (to prevent mis-spellings and hopefully, mis-quotes – we all know that happens all too often in press conferences).

�The ADUN of Subang Jaya presented us with a RM2000 grant for our work.
To date, inclusive of this grant, over the 3 years we have been in operation, we have received a total of RM8000 from the ADUN.

Thank you very much, YB Hannah Yeoh,
for rejoicing with us on our Sunsuper Dreams win and for supporting our work.

The two Chinese press journalists said their stories will be published tomorrow while the two English press journalists said theirs would probably be out only next week.

I hope the write-up in all four newspapers will bring more awareness to what the general public can do to help the street animals. I am confident that if the public media keeps highlighting our collective animal welfare work, in time, the message will get across to more and more members of the public. Animal charity is one of the hardest charities to run and manage or even to get support, but we must never lose hope. We just have to keep going….we’ll get there one day. And remember, while we are traveling on that journey, enjoy it! Complain if we must, but rejoice on the successes too!

As with last year’s write-up which appeared in the Star, there was a surge of applications for subsidies after it was published. If this happens again this round, well, that would be a good thing, wouldn’t it? We can then reach out further to help more animals and their rescuers!

Source: http://myanimalcare.org/2012/03/01/thank-you-yb-hannah-yeoh-press-conference/

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AnimalCare is a registered society that promotes caregiving to street animals and helps in their neutering and medical needs. AnimalCare has a Medical Fund, Food Fund and Education Fund.

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