DOG DAZE By Kathy Moran (The Philippine Star)
I know it’s already February. But it’s never too late to report about the good things that the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) did for 2010 is it?
I hope you agree with me that good news is welcome anytime, anywhere and anyhow.
This report was made by PAWS at their Black Collar dinner on January 15, 2011.
Here goes: For starters, PAWS adopted out 67 dogs and 89 cats last year. It was slightly lower than the 75 dogs and 90 cats adopted out in 2009.
I guess the good news is that these cats and dogs went to excellent homes.
It is always great to know that animals that have been abandoned or rescued end up with people who have good homes. Matter of fact, I have been told that many of the people who adopt the pets from the shelter are glad to have done so. And they normally come back to adopt one or two more.
One adoptee, Butterscotch Blue, celebrated his “birthday” (anniversary date of his adoption at PARC) recently. His adopted mom, Rosa Fontelera, presented PAWS with a beautiful scrapbook of their first year together.
This is the type of scrapbook that would put to shame first-time moms of human babies. The photos and the narration tugged at everyone’s hearts.
PAWS was able to admit 77 dogs and 224 cats this year all animals in distress or victims of cruelty or neglect.
We were also informed that 3,232 calls were received by PAWS in 2010. These were about inquiries on animal welfare.
However, 30 percent of these calls were still about abandonment from people wanting to relinquish their pets to the PAWS shelter.
Let it be known that PAWS does not take in pets from other people and only offers low-cost veterinary services (including low-cost neuter-spay) and dog behavior-training programs.
If people need rehoming assistance, PAWS will rehome straight from the owners’ homes to the adopters’ home only if the animal has already been spayed/neutered at the expense of the current owner, and has no behavior or health problems. If there are health or behavior problems, the current owner must first avail of the low-cost vet services and behavior rehab so that the dog will be ready for direct rehoming.
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To keep the streets a little less crowded with unwanted dogs and cats PAWS has spayed or neutered 1,107 cats and dogs in 2010 thanks largely to the efforts of shelter veterinarian Dr Wilford Almoro. Dr Almoro has helped many indigent pet owners keep their pets.
Take the case of Neneth Guardiano, who was being evicted from the place where she was staying because her rescued cats were reproducing uncontrollably.
PAWS has also helped a church janitress fix all her 25 cats for free.
Even in far-flung areas like Batangas, owners are beginning to be educated that kapon isn’t the cruel procedure that is done to male dogs or cats using rubber bands but a surgical procedure done to an animal under anesthesia by a licensed veterinarian.
(Photo on the left) Mr. Jun Samaniego, government employee, had 13 dogs. Five of his dogs were spayed/neutered at the free spay-neuter outreach program offered by PAWS in Lipa Batangas.
This year, PAWS hopes to do more provincial spay-neuter outreach programs when they get their Mobile Spay-Neuter Van.
And then there are the cruelty cases. There have been 12 cruelty cases filed by PAWS or other concerned citizens whom PAWS assisted, which are now being heard in court.
The most prominent of which is the case filed against UP student Joseph Carlo Candare. The one where he stomped on a cat to death and even uploaded the whole act of cruelty on the Internet.
Another is the dog fight case against Danny Sy et.al., which is pending in a court in Antipolo.
The other case is one filed against the Babe brothers in Montalban court for beating an Aspin to death before its owner’s eyes.
PAWS has investigated 15 cases through PAWS’ volunteer inspectorate team. The investigations paved the way for the improvement in conditions of animals reported to be starving or dehydrated or not given veterinary attention with proper coordination with barangay or police officials or just with the owners being educated.
PAWS rescued and fostered 183 animals in 2010.
To increase education on the more humane treatment of animals, PAWS was able to reach out to 37 schools and approximately 816 students in 2010.
| These students were taught kindness to animals, empathy and were made aware of other animal welfare issues by a team of volunteer Humane Educators. Seventy percent of these schools were preschools. The remaining 30 percent were split between barangay-based schools and universities. * * * If you want to do your share in helping PAWS you can donate online. log on to www.paws.org.ph. Comments are closed. |