KLANG, 2 March 2018:
A dairy cattle breeding company which sold 37 tuberculosis-afflicted cows meant for culling – without permission from the Selangor Veterinary Services Department – was fined RM10,000 by the magistrate’s court here yesterday.
Magistrate Rozianti Mohamed Hanaphi also fixed a four-month prison sentence on the SK Dairy Farm, which was represented by its owner Ainon Nazuwa Mat Jamal, 34, if she failed to pay the fine.
The company paid the fine.
SK Dairy Farm disposed the 37 Friesian cattle at the company’s cattle farm in Kampung Lombong here about 10am on 28 Dec 2016.
The company was charged under Section 34 (1) of the Animal Act 1953 (Revised 2006), read with the Animal Act (Amendment) Act 2013 and punishable under Section 34 (2) of the same Act, which carries a maximum fine of RM10,000.
Based on the facts of the case, the department’s Veterinary Health Division had issued a letter dated 6 Dec 2016 to isolate the cows – which had tested positive for tuberculosis – after tests on blood samples taken from 74 heads of cattle in the farm revealed that 39 of them tested positive for TB.
The letter was issued for the disposal of the cows using euthanasic injection.
However, on 28 Dec 2016, the technical staff of the Klang District Veterinary Services office who came to the farm to carry out the directive found only two of the 39 cows. The company informed them it had sold 37 cows.
Mohd Faiz Ajis from the Selangor Veterinary Services Department prosecuted while Ainon Nazuwa was unrepresented.
– Bernama