Did Belgian nat’l poison his neighbor's dog?

CEBU, Philippines – A 70-year-old Belgian national is facing animal welfare charges for allegedly killing his neighbor's dog in Azienda Firenze, Barangay Maghaway, Talisay City.

Jan Julius Verkoulen, 70, was accused of poisoning the English Sheep dog of his neighbor, Jaclyn Precious Vivar, 35, single and a teacher, who reported the incident to police authorities.

In the initial investigation, it was revealed that Vivar left her house for work leaving her caretaker, Mario Sabal.

Sabal, who has worked for four years as caretaker and a barangay tanod of Maghaway, alleged that after feeding the dogs, he checked at the dirty kitchen and allegedly saw Verkoulen throw something to the dogs.

Sabal said he immediately ran towards the dog that had eaten the ground beef.

"I tried to retrieve the remaining beef from the dog's mouth and placed it in plastic," Sabal narrated in his affidavit.

He then decided to go to his house and bought load to inform Vivar on the incident, he said.

When Vivar arrived, they noticed the dog named "Gom" already lifeless, Sabal added.

During CCTV review, Vivar and Sabal reportedly found Verkoulen positively throw ground beef to the dogs.

Vivar and Sabal called Talisay City Police to conduct ocular inspection and for the possible arrest of Verkoulen; however, they failed to locate him.

Vivar is bent on filing charges in relation to Republic Act 8485 or the Animal Welfare Act of 1998 against Verkoulen.