(PI) Humane solution to stray dogs problem sought

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Humane solution to stray dogs problem sought

 

First posted 02:03am (Mla time) June 03, 2006

By Marlet D. Salazar

Inquirer

 

Editor's Note: Published on Page A18 of the June 3,

2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

 

ANIMAL welfare advocates have expressed alarm over the

revival of a proposal to kill stray dogs through

electrocution. The issue was taken up during a recent

meeting of the Philippine Veterinary Medical

Association (PVMA).

 

Officials of the Animal Kingdom Foundation Inc.,

Compassion and Responsibility for Animals, Palawan

Animal Welfare Association and the Philippine Animal

Welfare Society said that electrocution is not a

humane way to get rid of the stray animals kept in dog

pounds.

 

Ramona Consunji, PAWS director, told the Inquirer that

the method, which was stopped last year by the

Committee on Animal Welfare, is completely

unacceptable by international standards because it is

cruel to animals.

 

The proposal was raised during the meeting by three

veterinarians: Dr. Jose Diaz, head of the Manila City

Veterinarianfs Office, Dr. Bubut Carlos of the

Marikina City Veterinarianfs Office and Dr. Abe

Agulto of the Philippine Society for the Prevention of

Cruelty to Animals.

 

Discussed at the meeting was the continuation of a

study or experiment on how efficient electrocution was

as a method in getting rid of unwanted animals.

 

Carlos said that maintaining dog pounds and keeping

hundreds of stray dogs were too costly.

 

He added that they were not really pushing for the

revival of electrocution, although he called on his

colleagues to gbe open to continued research on the

matter so we can come up with the most cost-effective

means of clearing pounds of unclaimed dogs.h

 

In a news report which came out last year, animal

welfare advocate Emil Rebano narrated the

electrocution process. Dogs set to be executed are

first doused with water to increase the impact of the

electric current. They are then placed in a steel cage

where a metal plate is placed above their heads. They

are zapped with 300 to 500 volts of electricity until

they are dead.

 

Dr. Rey del Napoles, a PVMA member and chair of the

CAWfs Task Force on Euthanasia, noted, however, that

there was still what he called gresistanceh from the

dogs because of their hair, foot pads and nails. As a

result, the electric current is not completely

absorbed by their bodies.

 

The more humane way was to anesthetize the dogs first

before conducting the electrocution, thus avoiding any

prolonged agony, one of the main requirements in euthanasia.