Stray dogs face mass slaughter

It is now open season on all stray, unwanted dogs in the island province of Catanduanes as the government launches an all-out campaign to eradicate rabies which has led to 11 fatalities so far.

Under Provincial Ordinance No. 002-2000 enacted by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan last month, the Municipal Rabies Control Committee to be created in all 11 towns will directly implement the provisions of the ordinance "in the matters of vaccination, control and disposal of stray or unwanted dogs."

The committees are authorized to eliminate or liquidate stray or unwanted dogs through shooting, cranial concussion or stunning, lethal injection using barbiturates, and carbon monoxide poisoning using fumes from car exhausts. The canine carcasses will have to be disposed by burying six feet underground.

The creation of the committee will save the municipal government of Virac from enacting a separate ordinance providing for the slaughter of stray dogs.

Virac's campaign against rabies ground to a halt a week ago after Mayor Jose U. Alberto reportedly chided the committee for going ahead with its information campaign without his approval. The committee had earlier decided to schedule a house-to-house vaccination of leashed or confined dogs in the town's 63 barangays, with stray ones shot by a "death squad" of PNP personnel and municipal employees.

What got the mayor's goat, it is said, was the committee's public announcement or "bayabay" in several barangays to the effect that barangay captains are authorized to liquidate stray dogs. Some village chiefs reportedly balked at the job as they feared that the rabies ordinance enacted by the Sangguniang Bayan did not include authorizing them to do so and that they may face resistance fron dog owners.

Under the ordinance, owners and possessors of stray dogs will be held liable for damages should their loose pets bite humans. The damages include hospital bills, cost of vaccine and funeral expenses.

With the measure mandating the putting of dogs on a leash or confined in a cage, owners of stray dogs have no choice but to follow the law or have their pets shot, mauled or poisoned to death.

The measure likewise makes it mandatory for all dogs three months old and above to be registered annually upon payment of P30 for the first dog and P100 for every additional mutt. The pets would have to be vaccinated against rabies every year and issued a collar tag containing vital information.

Last week, the Provincial Rabies Control Committee headed by Gov. Hector S. Sanchez conducted an orientation seminar on the ordinance for representatives of various sectors. The seminar featured lectures on the issues and concerns of the National Rabies Program by DOH's Dr. Victor Atienza, an update on human and canine rabies, and an explanation of the ordinance's implementation by co-proponents PBM Rosie P. Olarte and Edwin T. Tanael.