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My Home, My Death
My Home, My Death
By Richelle Andrei I. Manalo
Your mighty friend, playmate, and the greatest protector also need protection in this world where they are treated as an inconvenience. Animal cruelty is not just found in areas covered by cameras; it is everywhere and is rampant in the Philippines. Every run, every sound, and every whimper they make matters to this society where people choose to kill them rather than cater to them.
Slaughtering, poisoning, and abuse of animals, especially pet animals, are now seen in the news as an extreme call for help to seek justice for those who experienced these. The case that opened the eyes of many to the suffering of these animals was the news about a golden retriever dog named, “Killua”, who was found in a sack—bloody and lifeless. According to its owner, Vina Rachelle Azaras, her dog was killed on March 17, 2024, by its offender Anthony Solares in Sta. Cruz, Bato, Camarines Sur after reasoning out that the dog chased down its child but was later on found in CCTV footage to be a false reasoning. On the CCTV footage, Killua was being chased down by Anthony Solares across the street making a scene of scaring the dog down and the moment he cornered the dog, he took the opportunity to hit it multiple times.
Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) was dismayed at how severe this case was and took charges of violation of the Animal Welfare Act to its offender together with the owner who submitted the affidavits seeking the justice that Killua deserves. The identified cases of PAWS on animal cruelty from 2010-2017 have been around 7000 cases, already a shade to how humanistic actions are found in the slightest number of people. Cases like this in our country have always been present and happened multiple times but a stop for it seemed to be a long journey for the country to achieve.
In the Philippines, it is not just Killua who seeks help but also those strays who remain abused in the streets. Several 12 million stray cats and dogs in the country as of 2019, according to PAWS, are left in the streets to feed themselves food and acquire diseases and wounds from the suffering they are going through. Animal neglect is still animal cruelty. Strays need as much attention as the attention received by sheltered ones which slowly creates discrimination towards them. Strays portray an image of disgust to those people whom they come near, forced to be driven away by simple violence that they receive from day-to-day living. This action slowly creates a problematic bubble to these animals that the more they are given the violence they don’t deserve, they become more furious and violent to human interaction due to the trauma people caused to them. The strays that receive cruelty from people show off how suffering is placed within their path just to cater to their hunger. Discrimination toward them is just the same as physical abuse that creates neglect for them in the end. These strays are animals that go through the cruelty of life on the streets, where a supposed daily dose of food is replaced by a daily dose of violence from people.
Artwork By Kyz Aquino
The rising number of stray animals highlights how neglect of some people slowly becomes an easier task than being a responsible owner. These animals that are being considered as strays are also the same pets people used to cater to and feed multiple times a day. Becoming a responsible owner seems to be an odd situation to some especially when the need to care for their pets is now not given. These animals are slowly treated as toys and just some sort of attraction in a house after a while and are now set to be freed in the streets. To own is also to be a responsible owner, the implied idea of owning and just letting it be a poor stray is the exact opposite of what they deserved from the very start. Neglect starts with its owner who shall face charges for violation of the Animal Welfare Act of 1998 if given to them. Pets are known for serving their purpose to their owners but to be paid to have a life on the terror streets is a complete disrespect to the benefit they gave. Owners who are irresponsible to their pets do not deserve the attention of their pets that these animals show to them. The sad endings of these freed animals from their owners are the horror of the streets or the nightmares of overpopulated pounds that when uncontrolled they are inhumanely killed.
It is not a secret to many that strays may contaminate and acquire rabies in any way due to the lack of cleanliness in their environment. This is one of the problems faced by these stray dogs wherein they slowly acquire diseases, wounds, and parasites in their environment that cause people to drive them away. If this is already a considered problem experienced by strays, how severe is it to be more of an addition to the problem they face? The problem they make is the slightest inconvenience to the problem you caused them to experience if only they were treated with responsibility and kindness. The pushing of amendments to the Animal Welfare Act by Senator Grace Poe is nothing if not authorized properly in the country. Ensuring punishments are properly experienced by offenders who need them is what should be shown and not just band-aid solutions that do not give justice to what the animals experienced. In addition, to have proper animal pounds that cater to strays that do not provide killings as a solution is a must, based on what Alaga.BCD has reported to its local government after receiving and witnessing several reports. Strays animals deserve more than what a responsible owner could give if only the society creates a safe place for them to live. For them, the streets are what they consider home and to deprive them away from it is just taking away their freedom to live.
Killings and abuse are not the answer to every sound they make, but food and attention. Animals that people keep as pets should be treated with the same love they bring to a home and not an unwanted death. Stray animals are still animals that do not differ from the treatment they deserve.
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