Stray Dog Who Guarded Lumut Park Found Dead After Being Run Over By A Vehicle

In a Facebook post on Saturday, 13 February, the Manjung Municipal Council said that the dog, who was named Johnny, was found dead earlier during the day yesterday due to being hit by a vehicle.

Johnny and Puppy, the other stray dog, were only recently "employed" by the council to guard the Seri Manjung Mangrove Park and chase wild monkeys that wander in the area.

Both the dogs, licenced under the council, were trained to look after the park and also to protect visitors, whose foods or handbags were often stolen by monkeys or other animals.

One of the security guards, who looked after the two dogs, said that Puppy and Johny had piqued the interest of many including the council staff as the dogs were obedient and always keen to help.

"These two dogs are my 'co-workers' and their presence has kept the naughty wild monkeys here under control as they are afraid of them," security guard Khairol Nizam Mohd Zaki said.

According to Khairol, while he was initially was afraid to go near the dogs, once he began feeding them, he became comfortable and "they have been in this park ever since".

Meanwhile, the dogs' presence helped keep the monkeys from entering a nearby housing area.

"Each time the monkeys try to leave the park, I will get on my motorcycle and call Puppy and Johny to join me to chase the primates back to the mangrove area. It took me only a week to train the dogs. They now know what to do (whenever they see the monkeys)," 37-year-old Khairol was quoted as saying.

"The primates no longer harass the park's visitors due to the dogs' presence," he said.