Down with irresponsible pet owners!
Down with irresponsible pet owners!
Updated 00:58am (Mla time) Oct 27, 2004
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the October 27, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
WE routinely call the dog "man's best friend," but do you know that in Metro Manila, supposedly the most civilized in the country, thousands of dogs are put to death every day by -- and this is shocking -- city and municipal governments? In Makati City alone, the nation's business capital where the superrich live, 1,800 dogs are euthanized every year. Perhaps as many are brutally killed and eaten in just one week in Baguio City, the favorite vacation spot of the beautiful people. In Boracay, another favorite tourist spot, dogs were being shot dead on the beaches and the roads until the tourists protested.
Man's best friends are also being routinely shot by government employees in other towns and cities in other parts of the country. Even in cities governed by model mayors, like Marikina, dogs are caught with nooses, kept in the city pound for a few days, and then gassed.
Many more suffer an even worse fate. They are sold by “barangay” [neighborhood district] council officials to drunkards who kill them by clubbing them on the head, then butchering, cooking and eating them as “pulutan” [bar chow] during drinking sprees. In some cases, children have watched horrified as their elders gleefully stabbed or clubbed stray dogs to death then roasted the animals over a wood fire. Others are stolen from their owners and sold in the illegal dog black market, shipped, all trussed up or cramped together in wire cages, to the provinces where they are bludgeoned to death, butchered and cooked and sold openly and even advertised in restaurants and wet markets. That's how we treat "man's best friend."
And yet we have a law, Republic Act 8485 or the Animal Welfare Act of 1998 (AWA), that prohibits the maltreatment, killing and eating of dogs and other pets and animals not specifically raised for food. Penalty is imprisonment of not less than six months or more than two years or a fine of not less than P1,000 or more than P5,000, or both.
The maltreatment and killing of dogs and cats are being perpetrated openly everywhere, but have you heard of anybody being arrested and jailed for doing that? In fact, CARA Philippines, an NGO -- CARA stands for Compassion and Responsibility for Animals -- has documented cases where policemen and “barangay” watchmen were the perpetrators of these heinous acts.
Ironically, the bond between man and dog go back 12,000 years. Since humans domesticated dogs, they are most happy when they are in our company. Their loyalty, love and trust are their gifts to us. There are many stories of dogs saving their masters' lives. The animals have been used as war dogs, working dogs, seeing-eye dogs, bomb- and drug-sniffing dogs, search dogs, etc. As pets, scientific studies have proven that they reduce loneliness, depression and stress. Medically, they have been introduced as companions to patients in hospital wards and in homes for the elderly all over the world.
So why are we being cruel to them and killing them? Because of ignorance and lack of compassion, primarily. And in the worst irony of all, because governments think they are doing a good deed in rounding them up and killing them. It is to prevent the spread of rabies, an almost always fatal disease from the bite of a dog or other mammals. The risk of rabies in the Philippines is the fourth highest in the world. And because the number of stray dogs is increasing due to many irresponsible owners, local governments believe they are reducing the risk of rabies by killing stray dogs.
This is wrong on two counts. First, a study made in 1998 showed that 95 percent of dog bites did not come from street dogs but from those that had owners. Dogs are territorial and street dogs have no territories. It is the pet dogs that protect their territories by aggressive behavior.
Second, killing dogs (and cats) will not reduce the stray population if we do not reduce the number of irresponsible pet owners. These owners allow their pets to breed indiscriminately and then give away the puppies and kittens in staggering numbers. More often, kittens are simply abandoned on sidewalks or vacant lots. These have hazardous lives, and are sometimes squashed by vehicles. Those that survive grow up by scavenging for food in garbage cans, wracked by disease and starvation, and breed more strays that, in turn, breed more.
Two unaltered dogs and their offspring can produce 67,000 dogs in six years. For cats, the number is much higher. There should be a law that punishes throwing away or abandoning kittens.
Filipinos usually take home puppies and kittens because they are cute. But once they grow up and cease to be cute and, worse, show signs of illness, they are turned out on the streets where they unwittingly compromise the health of the whole neighborhood. As CARA Philippines said, "In our country dogs provide an important sense of security. However, here we find the paradox of people who don't really like dogs and yet will keep them to guard their homes. As a rule, these people are neither caring nor responsible owners. It is these owners' dogs that are usually allowed to scavenge on the streets for food and routinely let out to urinate and defecate on public property. As a result, this human irresponsibility leads to these dogs creating a public health hazard."
For many in our country, the dog is viewed not as a companion but as a necessary evil, so that neither time nor money is invested in ensuring good health.
Since dogs and cats are treated as dispensable and replaceable commodities, the abandoning of sick or unwanted dogs and cats is done with impunity. Invariably a neighbor's dog or cat will also have puppies and kittens and these will be given away. So the cycle of irresponsible ownership continues.
Updated 00:58am (Mla time) Oct 27, 2004
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the October 27, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
WE routinely call the dog "man's best friend," but do you know that in Metro Manila, supposedly the most civilized in the country, thousands of dogs are put to death every day by -- and this is shocking -- city and municipal governments? In Makati City alone, the nation's business capital where the superrich live, 1,800 dogs are euthanized every year. Perhaps as many are brutally killed and eaten in just one week in Baguio City, the favorite vacation spot of the beautiful people. In Boracay, another favorite tourist spot, dogs were being shot dead on the beaches and the roads until the tourists protested.
Man's best friends are also being routinely shot by government employees in other towns and cities in other parts of the country. Even in cities governed by model mayors, like Marikina, dogs are caught with nooses, kept in the city pound for a few days, and then gassed.
Many more suffer an even worse fate. They are sold by “barangay” [neighborhood district] council officials to drunkards who kill them by clubbing them on the head, then butchering, cooking and eating them as “pulutan” [bar chow] during drinking sprees. In some cases, children have watched horrified as their elders gleefully stabbed or clubbed stray dogs to death then roasted the animals over a wood fire. Others are stolen from their owners and sold in the illegal dog black market, shipped, all trussed up or cramped together in wire cages, to the provinces where they are bludgeoned to death, butchered and cooked and sold openly and even advertised in restaurants and wet markets. That's how we treat "man's best friend."
And yet we have a law, Republic Act 8485 or the Animal Welfare Act of 1998 (AWA), that prohibits the maltreatment, killing and eating of dogs and other pets and animals not specifically raised for food. Penalty is imprisonment of not less than six months or more than two years or a fine of not less than P1,000 or more than P5,000, or both.
The maltreatment and killing of dogs and cats are being perpetrated openly everywhere, but have you heard of anybody being arrested and jailed for doing that? In fact, CARA Philippines, an NGO -- CARA stands for Compassion and Responsibility for Animals -- has documented cases where policemen and “barangay” watchmen were the perpetrators of these heinous acts.
Ironically, the bond between man and dog go back 12,000 years. Since humans domesticated dogs, they are most happy when they are in our company. Their loyalty, love and trust are their gifts to us. There are many stories of dogs saving their masters' lives. The animals have been used as war dogs, working dogs, seeing-eye dogs, bomb- and drug-sniffing dogs, search dogs, etc. As pets, scientific studies have proven that they reduce loneliness, depression and stress. Medically, they have been introduced as companions to patients in hospital wards and in homes for the elderly all over the world.
So why are we being cruel to them and killing them? Because of ignorance and lack of compassion, primarily. And in the worst irony of all, because governments think they are doing a good deed in rounding them up and killing them. It is to prevent the spread of rabies, an almost always fatal disease from the bite of a dog or other mammals. The risk of rabies in the Philippines is the fourth highest in the world. And because the number of stray dogs is increasing due to many irresponsible owners, local governments believe they are reducing the risk of rabies by killing stray dogs.
This is wrong on two counts. First, a study made in 1998 showed that 95 percent of dog bites did not come from street dogs but from those that had owners. Dogs are territorial and street dogs have no territories. It is the pet dogs that protect their territories by aggressive behavior.
Second, killing dogs (and cats) will not reduce the stray population if we do not reduce the number of irresponsible pet owners. These owners allow their pets to breed indiscriminately and then give away the puppies and kittens in staggering numbers. More often, kittens are simply abandoned on sidewalks or vacant lots. These have hazardous lives, and are sometimes squashed by vehicles. Those that survive grow up by scavenging for food in garbage cans, wracked by disease and starvation, and breed more strays that, in turn, breed more.
Two unaltered dogs and their offspring can produce 67,000 dogs in six years. For cats, the number is much higher. There should be a law that punishes throwing away or abandoning kittens.
Filipinos usually take home puppies and kittens because they are cute. But once they grow up and cease to be cute and, worse, show signs of illness, they are turned out on the streets where they unwittingly compromise the health of the whole neighborhood. As CARA Philippines said, "In our country dogs provide an important sense of security. However, here we find the paradox of people who don't really like dogs and yet will keep them to guard their homes. As a rule, these people are neither caring nor responsible owners. It is these owners' dogs that are usually allowed to scavenge on the streets for food and routinely let out to urinate and defecate on public property. As a result, this human irresponsibility leads to these dogs creating a public health hazard."
For many in our country, the dog is viewed not as a companion but as a necessary evil, so that neither time nor money is invested in ensuring good health.
Since dogs and cats are treated as dispensable and replaceable commodities, the abandoning of sick or unwanted dogs and cats is done with impunity. Invariably a neighbor's dog or cat will also have puppies and kittens and these will be given away. So the cycle of irresponsible ownership continues.
posted by Dante at 12:58 AM
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