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PETS
The Rascals of the Penang SPCA
an exposés of my favorite canines
If you know me, you know I love two things — Malaysia, and dogs. So in 2023, I spent nearly every Tuesday volunteering at the Penang SPCA.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Malaysia, it’s the peninsula that sticks out at the bottom of Southeast Asia.
And Penang is a small island at the top of it, with eight hundred thousand human inhabitants and around a thousand stray ones.
That may not sound like a lot to you, because it’s not.
There used to be a huge roaming dog problem, but after a successful TNR campaign (Trap-Neuter-Release) those numbers have really come down; so much so, that the Penang City Council has officially stopped euthanizing them.
Though there are a bunch of shelters that have popped up recently, I spent my Tuesdays at the smallest, and oldest rescue on the Island — the Penang SPCA.
Since its original buildings were built back in 1948, the facilities are small. There’s only space for up to thirty dogs at a time, and they only have three small runs.
So I got to know all these pups pretty well, and I’d love to introduce you to some of them.