City vet admits "inhumane" handling of stray dogs

CEBU, Philippines – The head of the city’s Department of Veterinary Medicine admitted yesterday that the city’s way of catching stray dogs using a wire loop is “inhumane.”

City veterinarian Alice Utlang said they would want to correct this manner of catching to conform to the international standards in catching dogs. Rahul Sehgal of Humane Society International earlier said catching stray dogs using a wire loop falls short of international standards.

Seghal also criticized the manner by which the city kills the dogs by putting them into an improvised gas chamber, saying the proper way to first inject the dogs with intravenous fluid to render them unconscious.

Sehgal, an Indian national, will conduct a two-day seminar to city and municipal veterinarians in Cebu on international standards in carrying out their duties starting today.

Sehgal said dog catchers should use nets in catching the stray animals to prevent the dogs from biting innocent civilians.

Utlang said they organized the seminar to update city and municipal pound personnel on better ways to address pound management concerns, including animal birth control, human handling of animals, and disaster management in relation to animals.

Two major topics to be discussed are the correct ways to handle animals and the need to maintain a city or municipal pound.

Last year alone, the city rounded up 7,688 stray dogs. From January to April this year, the city veterinary’s office rounded up 1,028 stray dogs.

“If the figures of apprehended dogs are still the same year after year, it showed that the program is not effective,” Sehgal said. – Rene U. Borromeo/JMO (THE FREEMAN)