Letter to the Editor - Control of stray animals

Reading your column on Binalbagan is very enlightening. Short of mentioning the salient features of RA 8485 or the Animal Welfare Act of 1998, you delivered the precise blow to the kind of thinking the Mayor of Binalbagan town has.

Please be informed that his idea is not original and is just a poor copy of what Danao City did a few years ago to combat strays. But recognizing the hazard of such shooting strategy to eliminate the omnipresent stray dogs, Danao City stopped the measure despite surplus guns and bullets in their "arsenal."

However, you made mention of Cebu City's control of stray animals in another light which you hypocritically compared with the Binalbagan solution as worse.

For your information, we do not use gas fumes from burning rubber but fumes from an idling car engine fed with leaded gasoline. And the dogs in our gas chamber do not agonize for hours because they silently die within five to 10 minutes in a very humane manner.
(Sgd) Alice T. Utlang, D.V.M.
City Veterinarian
Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries
Cebu City