Operators of the alleged store behind the cats massacre, Petknode Online Pet Store, has attributed resource constraints as the reason of mismanagement, which caused the death of 16 cats and proved near fatal for hundreds more.
The duo owners, Yushairi Khairuddin and Shahrul Azuwan Adanan, said they were unable to get labour to run the center smoothly and the nature of its small business was marred by capital constraints and limited resources.
“With a sincere and humble heart, we would like to express our regrets and guilt for failing to provide the best service as promised,”
“We acknowledge our mistakes in running our cat care center until the wellbeing of our customers’ cats ignored,” they said in a brief apology note posted on facebook.
In another note titled “mandate to take care of our cats”, the operators admitted they can no longer afford to provide good shelter to the cats and dogs they adopted in the past.
“We are grateful to the volunteers at pain to provide temporary accommodation for the cats and we hope there are individuals who are more qualified and capable than us,” they said.
However, their apology were largely rejected by pet owners and animal activists, whom were outraged by their disservice on cats boarded before the Hari Raya break, in which 16 cats in total were found dead, while hundreds were soaked in their own urine.
“What good does apologies mean to the owners of the dead cats?” volunteer Abdul Adzim, who was among the first to break into the center to rescue the cats.
“A pitiful token of apology is not enough. They have to suffer the consequences of their actions,” he added.
Netizens Umi Shakina asked: “If you know you have not enough modal and staffs, don’t take in hundreds of cats for boarding. (The cats) were not just lack of food, they did not get any food and drink.”
“If I put you inside a cage and give you no food for a month, can you stay alive?”
(KALAU DAH TAU X CUKUP MODAL, XDE PEKERJA…X PAYAH LA GI AMIK SAMPAI BERATUS KUCING UTK BOARDING…BUKAN SETAKAT X CUKUP MAKAN MINUM…LANGSUNG X MKN N MINUM..SAMPAI MATI PUN ADA…CUBE LETAK KORANG DLM SANGKAR X MAKAN MINUM SEBULAN..KASI TENGOK SIKIT…BOLEH IDUP TAK???)
Sabirah Hassan, a self-proclaimed customer to the shop, claimed the operators did not take down of the instruction he gave when he boarded his pet.
“You don’t even write it down what I said, nor you label or take note of my cats’ names. You are a liar,” he said.
(AKU YAKIN KO MEMANG PENIPU!! Sebab masa aku serahkan kucing aku, ko angguk2 je bila aku explain cara bagi makan, tak tulis pun dalam mana2 borang or kertas. Nama2 kucing aku pun ko tak amik tahu or label.. PENIPU OK,)
Zubina Qamaruz Zaman opined that the operators might have known the penalty of animal cruelty and found it too light to worry about.
“That’s only RM200. Let’s con them for ten of thousands of ringgit and pay only RM200. It’s not an issue for them,” she said.
(ala baru kena bayar RM200. So what the heck … let’s con all the people for berpuluh-puluh ribu ringgit and just bayar je lah the RM200. No hal for them.. itu lah their plans.)
The enraged pet lovers will gather at Bkt Aman police headquarter later to send a memorandum calling on Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Ismail Omar to look into the issue.