KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 1 — While stray dogs are scorned at some public places, they are left to their own devices at the Universiti Malaysia Sabah campus in Kota Kinabalu.

Recently, clips of strays roaming the campus have been making its rounds on social media drawing praises from dog lovers.

According to the university’s Prof Berhaman Ahmad, the university used to seek the assistance of the Kota Kinabalu City Council to remove the strays.

"But they stopped doing so at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 as the council’s shelter was also swamped with strays caught elsewhere,” he said, adding that strays at the university had since been left alone.

Speaking to Malay Mail via telephone, Prof Berhaman said he was unsure of the number of strays in the campus but they would move in packs.

"They are now part of the campus’s community,” he said, adding that the undergraduates too did not seem to mind having dogs in the campus.

He added that to control the stray population, the university did put in new regulations such as ensuring rubbish bins were properly closed so that strays do not rummage through it.

"But I guess some of the students are feeding them hence they are not leaving the campus,” he said.

Just last week, a stray decided to join Prof Berhaman’s lesson with the heartwarming moment captured by the professor before sharing it on social media.

"I told my students, hey look we have a new student here before I proceeded to pat the dog on its head.”

Prof Berhaman said the brown mutt joined him on the stage as he was about to start his lesson for the day.

"As the lesson progressed, it decided to move to the side of the stage to continue sleeping. It only stood up to leave the lecture hall when I dismissed the students after completing the lessons,” he said, adding that the dog was the first to dash out of the hall.

Personally, Prof Berhaman said he does not have any issues with strays at the campus.

"They are also Allah’s creation,” he added.