City Hall seizes 29 puppies for sale as thousands of dogs get anti-rabies vaccines

CEBU, Philippines - The selling of puppies at the sidewalks of Cebu City is no longer allowed.

With this, the Cebu City veterinarian’s office confiscated 29 puppies that were being displayed for sale near the Fuente Osmeña and other places in the city.

The sale of animals at the sidewalks or anywhere outside a licensed pet shop is a violation of the Animal Welfare Act and the City’s laws.

The confiscated animals were being sold at a price of P600 to more than P1,000 each.

City veterinarian Alice Utlang disclose of the City Hall’s move to allow the selling of puppies, rare fish and birds only at an area at the Taboan public market. By then, the City can closely monitor whether the puppies being sold have been vaccinated at three months old and therefore safe for the buyers.

As this developed, thousands of dogs from the urban barangays of the north district of Cebu City will be given anti-rabies vaccines by the City Hall’s Department of Veterinary Medicine on June 13 to prevent the spread of rabies.

Utlang said the campaign will not include Saturdays and Sundays so their operation, which is free of charge, is scheduled to be completed on June 22. Three to four barangays are expected to be covered everyday.

When Utlang’s personnel conducted a similar operation in the city’s south district, a total of 4,481 dogs and cats from the 22 urban barangays were vaccinated.

“Higayon na kini sa mga tag-iya sa iro nga mapabakunahan nila ang ilang binuhi nga walay bayad unya irehestro pa g’yud ang ilang iro,” Utlang said. (This is a chance for pet owners to have their dogs and cats vaccinated and registered for free.)

According to Utlang, there is a plan to implement strictly the fine of P2,000 for owners of every unregistered dog or cat, after their campaign.

Vaccinating a dog or a cat prevents the spread of rabies, a viral infection that can be transmitted to humans through the animal’s saliva. Rabies can kill a person once it reaches the central nervous system.

Records showed that there were seven dogs found positive of rabies in Cebu City last year, but only one of them died of rabies.

According to Utlang, she already stopped subjecting the apprehended stray dogs to their improvised gas chamber.

They are now killing the dogs by injecting them with two milligrams of pentobarbital, a kind of anesthesia that will kill them while asleep. — (FREEMAN)