It’s easier to catch animals by luring them with some sort of bait but most would definitely be against using domestic animals like cats or dogs as live bait to lure a carnivorous beast. You can imagine how distraught people were after learning that the Department of Wildlife and National Parks Peninsular Malaysia (PERHILITAN) used puppies as live bait in order to capture panthers.
Recently, Dato’ Seri Haji Aminuddin Harun posted a chronology of how THE PERHILITAN team captured panthers that were said to be terrorising the neighbourhood of Kampung Ulu Beting, Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan since early September. In the Facebook post, the politician shared that PERHILITAN took immediate action after receiving a complaint from a villager (whose dog was eaten by one of the large felines).
The Wildlife Rescue service investigated the situation and successfully captured a total of 3 panthers from 18th September to 1st October. The healthy ones were then released into a thick forest, away from civilization while the sick ones received immediate treatment at the National Wildlife Rescue Centre (NWRC) in Sungkai, Perak.
While the panther problem was solved, netizens were horrified to learn that PERHILITAN reportedly used puppies as live bait to lure in the dangerous carnivorous animals. Many, including the Persatuan Haiwan Terbiar Malaysia (SAFM), criticised the rescue team for risking the lives of innocent small canines to capture a wild animal.
PERHILITAN addressed the concerns in a statement released earlier today (Wednesday, 11th October). Speaking to Free Malaysia Today, PERHILITAN Director General Abdul Kadir Abu Hassan reassured the public that no puppies were harmed during the process of capturing the panthers. He explained that the team would usually use a goat as bait but it failed to lure the large animal out.
Taking into consideration that the panther attacked the dogs in the area, they decided to use a scent more familiar to them, hence puppies. As for the reason for not using an adult dog, the director revealed that a grown dog could not fit in the trap that was used to capture the panthers. The puppies were immediately released as soon as the wild animal was caught.
When asked why the team didn’t use raw meat, Abdul Kadir explained that live bait was a more common procedure as it attracted wild animals. What do you think? Was using puppies as bait the right call?
