No room for acid

Acid - one of the most harmful substances on earth.  It's dangerous and deadly.

I've learned about the behavior of acid in an experiment in my chemistry class not so long ago. As soon as the acid hit its desired target, it fizzled and slowly broke down its chemical bond leaving the object in tatters.

It was a sad story when sulfuric acid was thrown at two dogs last June 3, reportedly by a resident in Barangay Mohon, Talisay City named Alfredo Alindao. In his defense, Alindao said that the dogs kept on chasing him and his wife, urging him to punish the animals by throwing acid at them. Some of the people living in the area said there was nothing wrong with what Alindao did because the two dogs, which belong to a pack of seven, have been scaring people off.

But dogs are naturally like that, they bark at people whom they do not know. Because it is their instinct to be protective of themselves and their owners, they use their animal mechanisms to ward off people who might harm them.

The two dogs who were victims of the “acid attack” were reported to be stray dogs which were repeatedly fed by no less than the residents of the same barangay. But despite being stray dogs who wander around the area, throwing acid at them as a punishment was just too much. It was an act of cruelty to animals.

Dogs are smart. In fact, they are labeled to be man's best friend. There are a lot of stories to prove this label. Just a few years back, we had a dog superhero in Mindanao who protected her owner and his children in an accident. Kabang, the dog, is now back in the Philippines after a surgery was done on his deformed mouth.

Dogs listen and they also express themselves. If you find them a nuisance, don't throw acid at them. It was not the fault of those dogs that they were strays. If they were a nuisance, what the residents could have done was surrender the dogs to the city dog pound, or adopt the dogs and keep them in their houses.

Animals were made by our creator to balance the ecosystem. According to Genesis, animals were created to accompany man in his daily living. They are harmful at times, yes, but they do not harm others unless threatened.

Alindao promised not to do it again, but the damage has been done. There were two dogs who suffered severely from an “acid attack” and they did not even have the chance to defend themselves.