Image: Instagram/@carlaangeline
Though pets are a common sight in the Philippines, not all domestic animals are necessarily treated in a humane manner.
Actress Carla Abellana, an animal rights advocate, shared the grim reality of dogs and cats which land in city pounds, through a post she made yesterday, July 11, on her Instagram page.
“There’s a pound at pretty much every city in the Philippines. Each pound has hundreds of cats and dogs,” she began. “It is our government’s duty to capture strays and bring them to these city pounds to control stray population. And yes, it is protocol to euthanize these strays at the end of each month to make room for more.”
Under the Anti-Rabies Act of 2007, local government units (LGUs) shall “strictly enforce Dog Impounding activities and field control to eliminate Stray Dogs.” Depending on local ordinances, they can be “disposed of” after a certain number of days.
“Most of the time these city pounds don’t even euthanize humanely (yes, there are proper ways) and instead just starve these cats and dogs to death or even poison them,” she said. “Trust me, kanya-kanya sila ng paraan (they each have their own ways) and their ways are simply terrible. Extremely terrible.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, there’s nothing we can do about the euthanasia at city pounds,” she said. “If non-government animal shelters, centers and sanctuaries struggle so hard to have their rescued cats and dogs adopted out, how much more these city pounds? In fact, I believe there’s even little to no effort of having them adopted out.”
To avoid animal cruelty and deaths of stray animals, she encouraged the public to take some steps.
She urged adopting pets and not to have a pet if one could not take care of them for their entire lives: “So many pets end up in streets because so many people give them up and abandon them.”
Abellana also called on animal lovers to adopt straight from a city pound.
“Spay/neuter your pets to control population and avoid unwanted pets that eventually end up being strays,” she implored. As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. If there are no animals that are abandoned, dog pounds would not be necessary in the first place.
She advised pet owners to place collars and tags on their pets with their names and address. This could be one way that beloved pets would not end up in a pound, since without a tag, they could be mistaken for a stray.
Abellana is a fur mom herself to a Welsh corgi, Jack Russell terrier and a Yorkshire terrier. She is a celebrity ambassador of nonprofit Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) which works to prevent animal cruelty in the country. JB
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