There is little worse in our world than the murder of dogs, yet in the Philippines it happens every day. The Filipino dog meat trade perpetuates a cruelty that is impossible to understand. A wonderful creature, which in most homes would be a pet, a family member, an equal, is tortured, killed, and sold as food.
YOUR DONATION WILL HELP US TO END THIS TRADE
On Tuesday March 11th, following two months of careful detective work, our operative Mel Alipio instigated a raid on a dog meat slaughterhouse in Mangaldan. This area is 50 miles south of Baguio City, the hotspot of dog meat consumption, and the final destination of most trader kills.
The scene in the slaughter room was disgusting: dog corpses, blood, knives, yet there was one notable absence from past raids: The smell of burning. Traders used to use fire to remove each dog’s fur, which caused a wretched stench. They now mostly boil the corpses, pull the poor dog’s softened fur out, and blow-torch the few hairs that remain. The censored photograph above is of three dead dogs, found boiled and skinned, in a metal bowl during our raid.
DONATE TO HELP US CLOSE MORE OF THESE SICKENING SLAUGHTERHOUSES
Mel found five dead dogs inside the room. He knew there were others on-site, but even with the police, he was legally unable to access them. In the days that followed, pressure mounting on the trader, Mel was eventually given access. There were seven more dogs. Four were shaken but healthy. Three beyond hope. Absolutely heartbreaking.
The property owner and his accomplice were arrested, and will now stand trial for violating the Animal Welfare and Anti-Rabies Act. If convicted they will each receive twelve months minimum in prison, and the owner has vowed in front of his family to leave the dog meat trade. We will of course be monitoring progress, and with your support, we will bring more of these vicious individuals to the same fate.
Network For Animals’ raids are extremely dangerous, involving careful detective work by our operatives, the enlisting of Police support, and interaction with external animal welfare agencies and vets to attempt to rescue any surviving animals. In this March 11th raid, we were able to free and re-home four dogs to loving Filipino families, and take two individuals out of the trade, hopefully for good.
