MANILA, (PNA) — The Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) will stage a forum on dog meat trade in line with the bureau’s celebration of the Animal Welfare Week on October 4 at the Hotel Rembrandt in Quezon City.
The event seeks to craft an effective and coherent policy to prevent the inhumane trade of dog meat for human consumption.
A review of the police raids and interceptions conducted by the police and the animal welfare nongovernment organization (NGO), Animal Kingdom Foundation, Inc. reveal that over 40, 000 dogs a year are being traded for its meat for human consumption. The dogs are sourced from provinces south of Manila and transported to Baguio City and Benguet provinces to restaurants to cater to customers looking for what is called a local delicacy.
“The dogs are either bought from the community by buyers/collectors. The dogs’ feet are tied together behind them and mouths muzzled making it impossible for them to breathe properly. Between 30 to over a hundred dogs are then loaded into enclosed vans one on top of the other, stuffed under a fabricated hood like cargoes and luggage. Their condition is such that 80 to 90% of the animals have already died before they even reach their destination in Baguio,” according to Atty. Heidi Marquez a-Caguioa, legal counsel and officer of Animal Kingdom Foundation.
While this practice has been limited to a few areas in the country, the international community has been demanding the government, in particular the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) which is the lead agency implementing the animal welfare act, to step up its containment in view of the horrors involved in its handling and risk to rabies contamination.
The BAI has called upon the various local government units who has been identified with the trade of dogs for meat practices, together with various government agencies to work together in addressing this issue and to ensure a consistent, effective and doable implementation of the Animal Welfare Act.
“The animal welfare issue can only be resolved if all government agencies will have a unified and effective policy to enforce the provision of the animal welfare law and to stop this inhumane practice”, BAI Director Ruben Cresencio said.
“The people may not be aware of the health issues involved in the trade risking themselves to possible rabies and other bacterial infection owing to the unsanitary and inhumane handling of the animal,” she added.
Under Republic Act 8485 or the Animal Welfare Act, BAI may call upon government agencies for assistance and it is the duty of the government agencies to assist in its implementation and enforcement, according to Cresencio.
Participating agencies in the forum include various local government units, the Department of Interior Local Government, Department of Health, the Department of Tourism, The National Meat Inspection Service, the Philippine National Police, and Animal Kingdom Foundation, Inc., the animal welfare NGO leading the stopping of the inhumane practice in the Philippines.