Sep 13, 2012
Valenzuela City, Philippines
Field Report
In late Aug the NBI developed and began utilizing an intelligence source to penetrate the dog meat trade in order to entrap and arrest a trader in what’s known locally as a "buy-bust" operation.
After extensive bargaining, and waiting, the NBI managed to lure the dog meat traders into producing 10 dogs at a location in Valenzuela, a municipality in the northern reaches of metro Manila.
The exact meet up point was only divulged by the dog meat traders 10 minutes in advance in order to reduce their chances of arrest and took place at 11pm in the middle of a dark and remote area populated by squatters. Unfortunately, as soon as the NBI and our team arrived, the dog meat traders ran off into the night. The NBI gave chase, but decided it was too dangerous to remain in the area, as a large crowd had gathered and was becoming hostile, so retrieved the dogs that had been abandoned by the traders and proceeded to a safe area where the dogs could be cared for.
It turned out that the dog meat traders had only brought 7 dogs to the meet up, two of which were already dead. Upon being freed from the sacks in which they were confined, and untied from the electrical cord that been used to restrain them, one dog managed to escape and the remaining four were brought to the city pound where they were evaluated by a vet and provided with food and water.
Two of the dogs are excellent candidates for adoption and a temporary foster home has already been found for them. Once they are vaccinated and spayed we should be able to find permanent homes them, as they very friendly despite the cruelty they suffered at the hands of the dog meat traders. The remaining two are understandably very aggressive towards humans, so are not suitable for adoption and thus will need to be humanely euthanized.
Follow up action:
- The NBI is going to trace the dog meat traders through the information they provided for a funds transfer to their bank account.
- The Valenzuela City Veterinary Office has requested anti dog meat posters, which we will provide, and is going to place them in prominent positions in every sector of their city.
