RM60,000 or 22 months in jail: what animal cruelty actually costs in Malaysia now

In March 2026, a 39-year-old mechanic in Shah Alam was sentenced to 22 months in prison. He'd found two kittens in front of his house, put them in a bag, carried them to a neighbour's doorstep, and kicked them. A CCTV camera caught it. One kitten died.

The court fined him RM60,000. He couldn't pay. So he went to jail.

A month later in Kajang, a 49-year-old man got six months after failing to pay a RM60,000 fine for repeatedly throwing a black kitten against a wall at a self-service laundromat at 3am — and then recording and uploading it himself.

These aren't maximum-penalty theoreticals. They're what Malaysian Sessions Courts have actually been handing down in 2026.

The old rule — before the Animal Welfare Act 2015 came into force on 18 July 2017 — was a maximum RM200 fine under the Animals Act 1953. Two hundred ringgit. That's the entire reason the new Act exists.

1. What the Act actually changed

Three things worth knowing.

The definition of "animal" got much wider — any living creature other than a human being. Not just pets. Not just livestock.

Penalties went up roughly 500-fold. From a RM200 maximum to a RM20,000 minimum.

The Five Freedoms went into law. Malaysia hasn't formally recognised animals as sentient beings in legislation, but the Act enshrines the Five Freedoms, which proceed from the premise that animals feel pain and can suffer both physically and psychologically. That framing does real work in how the offences are drafted.

An Animal Welfare Board was also created to monitor protection, run public education, advise government and oversee enforcement.

2. Cruelty (section 29) — minimum RM20,000

Section 29 covers the conduct most people think of as abuse:

• Beating, kicking, torturing, terrifying or infuriating an animal
• Causing unnecessary pain or suffering
• Poisoning
• Animal fighting, or organising or promoting it
• Abandoning an animal in circumstances where it's likely to suffer trauma or pain
• Cruel killing

Penalty: a fine of not less than RM20,000 and not more than RM100,000, imprisonment up to three years, or both.

Note the minimum. A judge cannot go below RM20,000. That's deliberate — it was designed to stop the token fines that made the old law meaningless.

Some things are expressly not cruelty: accepted veterinary management procedures as determined by the Board, lawful pest control for public health or disease control, and feeding animals to other animals in line with their natural eating habits.

What the sentences look like in practice:

• March 2026, Shah Alam — kicked and threw two kittens, one died, caught on CCTV. RM60,000 fine, 22 months' jail on default.
• April 2026, Kajang — threw a kitten against a wall and mattress at a laundromat, filmed and uploaded it himself. RM60,000 fine, six months' jail on default.
• August 2025, Ampang — beat his German Shepherd "Lucky" with a wooden stick and rubber hose. Fined RM30,000, six months in default. The dog was forfeited to the government for adoption through the Selangor DVS.
• February 2024, Penang — dragged a dog along the road on a 182cm chain while riding a motorcycle. Jailed one day and fined RM12,000.

Two patterns worth noticing. Almost every one of these started with a video — CCTV, a neighbour's phone, or the offender's own upload. And the fine is the sentence; jail is what happens when you can't pay it. Two of these men went to prison not because the court sent them there directly, but because RM60,000 was beyond them.

3. Neglect (section 24) — the one that catches ordinary people

This is the provision most Malaysians don't know exists, and it's the one most likely to apply to a well-meaning pet owner.

Owners have a duty of care: adequate food and water, appropriate shelter, protection from disease and injury, and veterinary treatment when needed.

Fail those duties and you face a fine of not less than RM15,000 and not more than RM75,000, up to two years' imprisonment, or both.

The case that should worry every pet owner who travels: a man was sentenced to two years' jail and fined RM50,000 after five of his cats died when he went back to his hometown for several weeks and left them in his rented apartment. Their skeletons were found in a box near the door. He hadn't set out to hurt them — he left, and they starved.

Practical translation: "I'll be back in a few days, my cat will be fine" is exactly the reasoning that produced that sentence. If you're going away, arrange actual care — a boarding facility, a neighbour with keys who will physically check, a pet sitter. Leaving out a big bowl of food isn't a plan.

Section 24 doesn't apply to lawful destruction of an animal for reasonable purposes carried out humanely.

4. The enforcement gap — the honest part

The Act is good. Enforcement is the problem, and pretending otherwise doesn't help anyone.

DVS reported 19,303 complaints between 2021 and 2025, of which 16,340 were under the Animal Welfare Act. It says 16,394 complaints have been resolved.

But over that same period: 43 cases were successfully prosecuted and convicted, with total fines of RM445,400.

Forty-three convictions from over nineteen thousand complaints.

DVS's explanation is that "resolved" covers a wide range of outcomes, and many complaints don't involve conduct that meets the criminal threshold or don't yield usable evidence. That's a fair point. But an earlier snapshot from the DVS enforcement director tells the same story in miniature: of 276 complaints up to September 2021, 39 were investigated and eight went to court.

Two more recent cases show what falling through the gap looks like:

• October 2024, Terengganu — "Kopi", a stray dog, was shot by local council officers during a stray-management operation. A subsequent lawsuit was dismissed in February 2026, with no reported conviction under the Act.
• January 2026, Perak — a stray dog was killed with a firecracker. The perpetrator was fined RM2,000 under the Penal Code, not the Animal Welfare Act.

That last one matters. Charging under the Penal Code instead of the Act converts a RM20,000-minimum offence into a RM2,000 fine. Legal commentators have argued repeatedly that offenders should be prosecuted under the specific provisions of the Animal Welfare Act rather than the less stringent Penal Code — because the Act is only as strong as the charge that gets laid.

Why this matters to you as a complainant: the quality of your evidence heavily influences whether a case is charged under the Act at all.

5. How to report properly

DVS runs MyAnimalWelfare, an online system where complaints are recorded digitally and routed directly to enforcement officers by state and location.

Stated response targets:

• Serious abuse threatening life: action within 24 hours
• Neglect: within three working days

What makes a report actionable:

• Video or photographs. Nearly every successful prosecution above involved footage. If you can record safely, record.
• Exact location — address, or a landmark plus coordinates.
• Date and time, as precisely as possible.
• Identifying details of the person, if known and safe to note.
• The animal's condition — visible injuries, body condition, whether it's still there.
• Whether it's ongoing or historic.

Also:

• For an animal in immediate danger, contact your state DVS office and consider a police report as well.
• Local councils handle stray-related matters, which is a different track from cruelty.
• SPCA and other NGOs can advise and sometimes assist with rescue, though they have no enforcement powers.

Do not confront the person yourself, break into property, or take the animal — however strong the urge. You risk assault, trespass or theft allegations, and you can compromise the evidence chain that a prosecution needs.

And be careful with the viral instinct. Posting the video publicly does often generate pressure that leads to enforcement — several cases above began exactly that way. But naming and accusing someone who turns out to be the wrong person is defamation, and Malaysian awards for that are not small. Report it properly first. See also: [Before you post that video of the guy who parked like an idiot — read this](/p/in-malaysia-shaming-someone-on-social-media-could-land-you-in-jail)

What to actually do

If you own animals:

• Food, clean water, shelter, vet care when needed. These are legal duties, not preferences.
• Never leave pets unattended when travelling. Arrange real care with someone who will physically check on them.
• Don't abandon an animal you can no longer keep — surrender it to a shelter or rehome it properly. Abandonment is a section 29 offence.
• Euthanasia is not a fix for your own inability to care for an animal.

If you witness cruelty:

• Record safely, from a distance.
• Note location, date, time, and the animal's condition.
• Report through MyAnimalWelfare to DVS. Police report as well if it's serious or ongoing.
• Don't confront, don't trespass, don't take the animal.
• Keep your original files with metadata intact.

If you're the subject of a complaint: - These are criminal charges with mandatory minimum fines and real jail exposure. Get a lawyer rather than turning up to court alone.