SILENT CRIES
PROMOTING ANIMAL RIGHTS AWARENESS AND RESPONSIBLE PET OWNERSHIP – Message from the Author (Angeline S. Chin)
Silent Cries started out as the SAVE ANIMALS book project, and its objective is to promote animals’ rights awareness and responsible pet ownership in Malaysia through education.
It now comes in a form of a handy book that not only contains true stories from the animals’ perspective, but also contains valuable information about caring for a pet, fun quizzes, interesting facts and recipes, and also interviews with real people and celebrities who have pets. There are also real case pictures of abused animals and many more. For the first publication, I am concentrating on issues that are faced by two most popular household pets in Malaysia, cats and dogs.
Animals’ rights awareness in Malaysia is still very much at its infancy level, Malaysians tend to have pets these days out of fashion or short term interest to have them around while they are still cute, but what they lack is knowledge on how to become a responsible pet owner. The growing trend to be seen with pedigree animal only is also worrisome, as this would also contribute to the lack of interest to adopt a mongrel.
Some people have pets just to protect their house but hardly ever wonder that animals have feelings too and they do feel lonely. This will only lead the animal into depression and mood disorder. When an animal attacks to defend themselves, society always blamed them and in the end, the animal has to pay the price. Little do they realize that most of the time it was human who provoked them which causes them to retaliate, or due to lack of social skills as a result of being chained 24/7 (lack of interaction with humans).
As an effort to materialize this objective, this book has been conceived to get the message across especially targeted to the young generation.
In order to educate, we need the society to understand the meaning of animal rights and how animals can bring joy into our lives if we let them. Most of us are not willing to open up our hearts and minds to accept that animals have feelings too. Some people abuse animals for fun because they think it is ok to do so, could be due to upbringing or simply out of selfishness and ignorance. In order to correct this, we need to educate the society.
We also need the government and the relevant authorities’ full support to revise the existing penalty law in Animal Act Ordinance 1953, to deter people from abusing animals and to implement the necessary educational programs in schools. If we can have stiffer laws on open burning, not paying our taxes on time, abusing children and women, why can’t we have stiffer laws on animal abuse?
My hope is that this book will benefit the society, whether they are an existing pet owner, potential pet owner or just for general knowledge. Share it with your friends and families. Buy it as a valuable gift on birthdays!
Those interested can purchase the book at a special price of RM25 only (Please include RM5 for delivery within Klang Valley, RM7 for outside Klang Valley – Sabah/Sarawak, International delivery will be quoted in USD – please email to saveanimalsproject@gmail.com for further information).
