We checked whether this shelter with 2,000 dogs is a photoshopped scam.

A couple of weeks ago, we got a message from one of our readers, and to our surprise, it wasn’t the usual ‘you guys suck’.

Basically, this reader knew we’ve uncovered a dog shelter scam before, and they recently started suspecting that something shady might be going on with another animal shelter – specifically, Mee Fah Homeless Animals Shelter. They said that the shelter’s Facebook page:

• Had ‘doctored’ pictures
• Claimed to house 2,000 dogs
• Focused more on getting donations rather than getting the animals adopted
• Had very few comments on the posts

Intrigued, we checked out the page for ourselves, and sure enough, we had some questions of our own.

• Why is their registered society name different from their bank account name?
• How can they fit 2,000 dogs in one place, assuming they have 2,000 dogs?
• Why aren’t they more well-known?

Since Google-sensei couldn’t provide us the answers we needed, we gave the number listed on the Facebook page a call. The guy in charge of the shelter, Mr. Yong, was quick to clear some of the doubts we had.

The shelter is called Mee Fah Homeless Animals Shelter cuz it was set up by a lady from Johor called Mee Fah. Before she passed away in 2021, Mee Fah handed over the reins to Mr. Yong, a seasoned animal rescuer.

Mr. Yong then went on to explain that their bank account name is just the English translation of their registered society name, and some of the pictures there look photoshopped because they are… but not in the way you think. The social media person uses a filter on the pictures because they like the aesthetic.

Everything seemed legit so far, and having heard their story, we had to see the shelter for ourselves, so…

 

This dog shelter is practically sat in a jungle

So, Mee Fah Homeless Animals Shelter is located in Semenyih, a township that’s widely known to have grown rapidly in the past few years…. which was why we didn’t expect we’d have to drive through a jungle. The condition of the ‘road’ was so bad that this writer had to send his car for a checkup after the trip. We even called Mr. Yong just to double check whether we were going the right way or not.

And after nervously stepping on the gas pedal for what for like ages, we arrived at the shelter. It was surrounded by dense foliage and seemed bigger than any animal shelter we’ve ever seen. As we stepped out of the car, Mr. Yong greeted us at a gate and offered to take us on a brief tour of the facility.

About two minutes into the tour, it became obvious that the shelter’s claim of housing 2,000 strays was no exaggeration.

We didn’t physically count the number of dogs one by one, but there were dogs as far as our eyes could see. Dogs out in the open, dogs in enclosures, dogs everywhere. Even though some of them looked like they had mild skin disease and were somewhat dirty, the dogs looked adequately fed. Most of them were quite active, too. Green flag in our books.

There’s also a room for cats, and a monkey that was rescued and sent to the shelter.

At the end of the tour, Mr. Yong sat down with us, and started telling us more about the place. One of the more shocking revelations we heard was that…

 

The shelter needs RM2,000 to run per day

Owing to the number of animals the shelter has taken in, Mr. Yong told us that it costs RM2,000 per day to keep the facility running. That includes the food for the animals and the salary for six full-time employees (RM2,000 per employee every month). There’s also an in-house oxidation pond stops the animals’ poo poo and pee pee from flowing directly into the drainage system:

“The oxidation pond is crucial to the shelter, because the untreated waste can cause water pollution down the line, and we don’t want that to happen”

Mr. Yong said that the system is a necessity to prevent water pollution down the line, even though it is a big contributor to the shelter’s costs.

Unfortunately, the shelter has had to cut down on certain expenses due to a large drop in donations since the p*ndemic hit our country in 2019. They had to transition from feeding the animals kibbles to feeding them rice:

“We used to feed more kibbles to the dogs and cats we have here, but since 2020 or so, we’ve been feeding them rice for the most part,” – Mr. Yong, in an interview with CILISOS

Mr. Yong and his partner also had to make the tough decision to only take badly injured or seriously ill animals to the vet, cuz yeah, vet bills can quickly rack up when thousands of dogs are in your care. That’s not to say that Mr. Yong ignores sick animals – he tries to treat them the best he can at the shelter with whatever medication they have on hand.

And despite the fact that the shelter gets occasional donations, it’s never really enough to cover everything. “How are they still surviving, then?” Well, Mr. Yong takes out money from his EPF every month to tide the shelter over.

“I can’t stand the thought of the dogs and cats going hungry, so I have to use my retirement funds to feed them,” – Mr. Yong, to a CILISOS writer

Obviously, he can’t do this forever. He only has so much in his EPF account, after all.

At this point, many other articles will ask y’all to donate to the shelter, but you should decide for yourselves whether this place is legit. Check out their Facebook page, and if you do want to pay the place a visit, this is their address:

1858, Kg Rincing Hulu, Semenyih, Malaysia

Oh and before we sign off, the shelter is open to volunteers and students who are looking for internship spots or a place to do their practicals, so if that’s your jam, the option’s always there. Just, uh, drive carefully should you decide to make a trip there.