KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 -- When a stray dog named Kopi was shot in Besut, Terengganu, in late 2023, the public outcry was immediate and intense.

Videos of the incident circulated widely, social media campaigns demanded justice, and for a few weeks, the nation seemed united in its grief.

But as the weeks turned into months, the outrage faded into silence.

For animal activist Sue Ann Kong, this familiar cycle of fleeting anger was the final push she needed to move beyond online criticism and into structured civic action.

This resolve led to the formation of #ExecuteAWA, a movement she describes as Malaysia's first national initiative dedicated to strengthening the enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) 2015.

"People were angry for a...