POLITICAL Animal Lobby (PAL) Veterinarian Dr. Arturo Pangan Tuesday warned the public about the deadly diseases that may be transmitted through eating dog meat.

Pangan warned that eating dog meat might not only cause rabies. "Eating dog meat may cause anthrax, hepatitis, leptospirosis (through the urine), and internal parasites."

He added that vrucellosis, a virus that causes abortion in both human and animals, might also be contracted through eating dog meat, especially stray ones.

"However, the most dangerous are the E. Coli 107 virus and the salmonella virus, most common in contaminated meat," he said.

PAL is an international non-government organization that is helping the government implement Republic Act 8485 or "The Animal Welfare Act of 1998," which aims to promote humane treatment of the animals being human's co-inhabitants of the environment, and the biosphere at large.

Meanwhile, Dr. Roberto Umali, regional director of the National Meat Inspection Commission, also stressed that dog meat is inedible because of high risks of catching many diseases.

"Dogs are not considered as food animals and so we are appealing to the public to refrain from selling and eating dog meat," he said.

Moreover, Umali said that since dogs are not considered food animals, they do not go through inspection by the NMIC.

"This makes consumption of dog meat even more dangerous. I hope that the public, especially those who are used to eating dog meat, realize that the implementation of RA 8485 is for the general welfare of the people. This is for your health," Umali appealed.

The NMIC-CAR, recently distributed waivers to the vendors in the city to refrain from selling dog meat.

"It is prohibited because it is not safe. Second, it is illegal under the Constitution, and third, because it is a form of cruelty to animals," the officers maintained.

The animal welfare act specifies that torturing, maltreating, and killing/slaughtering of dogs are highly unlawful and offenders should be apprehended and punished accordingly.

The Criminal Investigating and Detection Group (CIDG) has been empowered to raid establishments and apprehend violators of the said law.

On the other hand, the combined forces of PAL, CIDG, the city government and NMIC identified lack of ample information and right education as the biggest hindrances why the law is hardly ever followed.

They also lamented the ineffective sanctions and poor specifications of the RA 8485 that cause offenders to repeatedly ignore the law.

courtesy of Sun Star Baguio
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