Halijah Idris, the founder of Pak Mie Shelter, passed away at Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital in Alor Setar, Kedah yesterday, 10 February, due to ovarian cancer
According to the Pak Mie Shelter Facebook page, Halijah, more fondly known as Mak Intan, took her last breath as she was recovering from a surgery to remove her ovaries that took place on 28 January.
The 76-year-old, known for her unconditional love and care for stray dogs, had been managing the shelter for over 30 years
Pak Mie Shelter was set up along with her husband, Muhammad Azmi Ismail, in Alor Setar in 1990, helping to take care of over 500 dogs and more than 100 cats since.
She continued to run the shelter even after Muhammad Azmi, or Pak Mie, passed away in 2015 due to a stroke.
Her death comes as a bitter blow as Mak Intan’s family received a notice to vacate the shelter two weeks ago – on the same day of her surgery
While she was in the hospital, the Alor Setar City Council (MBAS) sent another notice to the family on 4 February, warning that the shelter will be demolished in two weeks because it was situated on reserved land.
Her son, Badirol Hisham Ramli, told The Star that they are in the midst of looking for a new place to relocate the shelter for the strays.
Badrul added that the family did not tell his mother about the notices as they worried it would worsen her condition.
“Before she was warded, she made us promise that we would safeguard the animal shelter,” he told the English daily.
“We don’t want a big piece of land. We only need about an acre to build a shelter for the cats and dogs. We wanted to buy one but it costs about RM500,000 which we can’t afford.”
So far, over 60 strays have been adopted by members of the public to help the family manage the shelter
However, they pleaded on the shelter’s Facebook page that they still need monetary support to build a new shelter and bear the transportation costs for the cats and dogs.
Here are Badirol’s bank details to donate to Pak Mie Shelter:
Badirol Hisham bin Ramli
7614273181 (CIMB Bank)