Believe it or not, a major city in the Philippines, perhaps the second largest city after Manila, Quezon City, did not have a centralized city pound until a new one was inaugurated on April 29, 2007. Approximately 2.69 million people reside in Quezon City together with approximately 200,000 dogs of which a third are strays. Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) worked tirelessly and constantly with Quezon City Mayor's office to make the pound a reality. Formerly, stray dogs were kept by the local barangay government until they were claimed by the owners. The barangay has no equivalent in the American government system. It is lower than the city government and represents the basic unit of government because it operates at the neighborhood level. The dogs kept by the barangays have been known to end up in the dog meat market since the barangay officials are only too glad to give them up for a very small fee. They are, after all, not in the dog pound business. So, the opening of a city pound takes a bite out of the dog meat trade. The stray dogs now have a place to go, and hopefully get adopted from there. Quezon City, by the way, is considered the largest source of stray dogs that end up in the dog meat trade. Without the vision and hard work of PAWS, this step in the right direction would never have been taken. It's an important step forward for animal welfare in the Philippines. Here is a couple of videos taken during the inauguration ceremony:
When a member of the animal or plant kingdom goes extinct, there will be no second chances. Evolution will simply not repeat itself. There are reportedly eighty bird species that are unique to the Philippines and many of them have already made it to the endangered list. And we, to a great extent, have indiscrimate hunting to thank for it. In spite of two national laws protecting Philippine animals, the carnage continues unabated. The killings could occur as arbitrarily as guys getting together for macho time, or as a result of a well-planned hunting trip involving speed boats, bird callers, and camouflaged outfits. Either way, the outcome is the same. Philippine wildlife, our natural treasures, inches closer to a state of irreparable vacancy. Not too long ago, we learned about the Bacolod Air Rifle Club (BARC) whose unbridled killing of Philippine birds and ducks became the subject of an online petition calling for immediate government intervention. My post on that most disturbing c...
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