By Shannon Teoh
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 5 — Cat owners in the city planning their balik kampung trips over the Hari Raya period were at first delighted at discovering a promotion at a “pet hotel” offering to take their animals in for just RM3.95 a night.
But peace of mind turned to horror last weekend as over 300 cats were found starved, dehydrated and covered in their own urine and faeces yesterday.
Cat owners, who had sent their animals to a pet boarding centre known as Petknode, had wanted to reclaim their pets over the weekend but said they were told by the operators that the cats would be delivered to their homes instead.
But when the cats did not arrive, some owners went to the boarding premises in Damansara Damai and found the place locked and calls to Petknode operators went unanswered.
Along with volunteers and rescuers led by animal lover group Kucing Terbiar Anjing Jalanan (KTAJ), they reported the matter to the police. Volunteers said police decided to cut the locks and found hundreds of emaciated cats with up 16 already dead.
One volunteer, Chan Kah Yein, said on a blog posting “she is all skin and bones,” of a cat that was found close to death. Some of the cats had spent nine days locked in the boarding centre.
With the help of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, the rescuers managed to rally enough volunteers to foster the cats until their actual owners returned from their balik kampung trips.
Malaysian animal lovers expressed their outrage on both platforms, with some calling for the Petknode operators — who they called “babi”, “syaitan” and “bangsat” — to also be locked up and starved for a week.
But as of late last night, at least another 100 cats remain locked in a detached home in Desa Moccis, Sungai Pelong. On a new Facebook group simply called “Petknode,” volunteers said that police were on the way there to free the cats.
News reports said that Petaling Jaya deputy police chief Supt Meor Hamdan confirmed that nine police reports were lodged and the police decided to cut the lock and enter the premises.
Volunteers on Facebook also said that the two owners of Petknode were questioned by police but then released and now want to sue the cat owners for trespass.
“Did I hear correctly? The ***wipe running @petknode wants to sue the cat owners who bust into the premises to rescue their dying cats? ****,” said television personality Rina Omar on Twitter.