On 15th January 2013, 35-year-old businessman Mohamad Nor Arshad, sent his five-year-old pony breed mare Siti for a two-week rehabilitation at the Sungai Ramal Dalam stables after it was given to him by a friend. Little did he know that it would be the last of Siti.
While Siti was at the stables, a stallion named “Al-Wahid” believed to be owned by a “Datuk” was apparently placed in the mare’s enclosure for a day due to space constraints. A caretaker had found Siti lying on the ground and shivering at about 8am on 21st January 2013 with injuries on the head, bite marks on the back, and her private parts bleeding profusely. Veterinarians from the Cheras Veterinary Department and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) tried to save the Siti but it died about three hours later.
According to the veterinarian from UPM, preliminary check showed that the mare was probably “raped and killed” by the forcefulness of the stallion. Upon hearing the news of Siti’s horrific death, the traumatized Mohamad Nor Arshad proceeded to lodging a police report. He said, “Siti died the very same day I decided to name her foal Sydney. I am very upset at what happened as I love horses. I heard that there were other similar incidents at other stables where aggressive horses had attacked other horses. I hope other horse lovers do not have to go through this ordeal.”
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Veterinary Services Department (DVS) director-general Datuk Dr Abdul Aziz Jamaluddin have since stepped in to say that those managing and working at stables should know that it’s dangerous to keep a mare and a stallion in the same enclosure. He also added that, “They should observe this at all times and be aware that stallions are aggressive when they want to mate. No way should they have put both the horses together as when a mare is on heat, stallions become so aggressive that they can even kill people. Stallions are so aggressive and violent when mating that breeding is done in a large enclosure with people wearing protective gear supervising it.”
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Meanwhile, Siti’s case had caught the attention of several animal rights groups including the Malaysian Equine Council. However, Mohamad Nor Arshad has yet to lodged a report with the council.