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A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY!
posted December 31. 2008

Friends, you have saved, served and supported us a lot in 2008, please be there for us in 2009! Together, let us all work towards the end of the illegal-dog-meat trade in the Philippines!

There have been breakthrough laws in 2008, let us see its full implementation in 2009. The dog-meat traders have dramatically decreased their illegal activities due to AKF’s swift and lead effort in enforcing in the mid-year of 2008 the newly activated Anti-Rabies Act of 2007. We are more hopeful for 2009 and with you being there as our partners in the advocacy, AKF shall strongly advance the fight against the illegal-dog meat traders and put this wicked dog-meat trading to its demise! Together, let us make this dream happen! Help us end the misery of our dogs being slaughtered for their meat!

No more to this cruelty!

49 'hot' dogs rescued in Benguet By Artemio Dumlao Updated December 2008 La Trinidad, Benguet – Local authorities and animal rights activists rescued 49 dogs after a raid at an illegal slaughter house in Barangay Alapag here last week. Members of the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS), and volunteers from the Animal Kingdom Foundation (AKF) of the United Kingdom and Sweden-based Animal Protection Network raided the slaughterhouse, owned by Ador Layno, a known illegal dog trader in Baguio and La Trinidad. Brando Gegway, AKF’s Luzon representative, said Layno escaped before the raiding team arrived. AKF had earlier conducted another “dog rescue” operations at Layno’s other slaughterhouse in Barangay Gayasi also in La Trinidad.

“The battle won’t end here (rescue of the dogs). We will run after this dog trader because a criminal case of violation of Animal Welfare law R.A. 8485 and Anti-Rabies Law R.A. 9482 was filed against Layno,” said Gegway.  Under the new Anti-Rabies Law or R.A. 9482 of 2007, Section 11, dog meat traders are ordered to pay a fine of P5,000 for each of the recovered dogs and they face imprisonment of one to four years. Layno’s place was placed under surveillance after Gegway received information that a slaughterhouse of dogs is operating in the village. Lou Kockly, a member of the Animal Protection Network, said: “I can not just imagine these lovely creatures to be served in front of any Filipino. These are animals that want only to give unconditional love to humans, and they will, if they only have the chance,” she said.Kockly warned to dog meat eaters that stray dogs are infected with skin diseases and other disease.Gegway said dog meat is in demand among residents in the Cordilleras because of the cold climate.

Gegway further claimed that the center of the illegal dog trade, which is raking in millions of pesos, is in Baguio City and Benguet.

The rescued dogs were brought to the AKF rescue center at Cub-cub, Capas in Tarlac for rehabilitation.

Anticipating litters from our pet dogs is a wonderful occasion, a family affair that keeps everyone anxious and celebrating once the cuddly puppies arrive. It is an event that we make sure the whole neighborhood knows. Well, we have news for you, fellow animal-lovers, we have our first borns, all eleven of them, in our recently inaugurated rescue center in Capas, Tarlac! Yes, we are in the business of saving dogs bound for slaughter and nothing has prepared us for this momentous event, it turned out that during our last year’s consecutive rescue operation in Tuguegarao (August 30, 2006) and La Union (November 2, 2006 and December 1, 2006) there were manhandled and maltreated pregnant dogs recovered by our researchers.

The gruesome state we find them during rescue operations is a sight not for the faint-hearted: skins of their muzzles and ankles deeply torn by restraints; gall-bladders ruptured due to intense heat inside a cramped makeshift-floor of the dog-traders’ vehicles; broken bones and open wounds caused by manhandling; smeared by their own excreta and blood; some dead, some barely breathing while some more die along the way to the rescue center, it is never a pretty sight and for these new mums to deliver cute little puppies in the center, it is a miracle!

With each rescue operations we make, AKF is always hoping to rescue more live dogs rather than recover dead ones; nothing is more rewarding seeing these dogs run freely in our rescue center when they were supposed to have been slaughtered a few days ago and, now, we have new-borns, a miracle!

Argenta has 5 lovely puppies, all 2 months old now; Avery has 2 cuddly ones, both a month old; and Bonnie with 4 cute bundles, all born on January 2, 2007! They are now being watched lovingly and tenderly by our two resident veterinarians and cared for by their watchful “daddies”, our three caring kennel-aids. These puppies will never experience what their parents have gone through as long as they are in our care! We are all excited caring for them but we know that these cuddly ones need a family out there that would lovingly accept them as pets and shower them TLC. They have to be what they are meant for, loving cute pets to a loving and caring family.

Our center accepts visits and we have an active adoption program in place, both on-line and actual. Presently, we have 201 rescued dogs in the center and they all subsist due to donations and support given us by animal-lovers out there. The growing expenses that entail our rescuing of dogs are mostly coming from the dogs much needed sustenance, medications and regular physical management plus the maintenance of the center. Thru our adoption program, you, fellow animal-lover, can make possible our rescuing more slaughter-bound dogs and give them comforts they badly need. Also, we are eager in promoting responsible pet-ownership thereby giving these once ill-treated animals, and now puppies born from these dogs, a new chance at life.

For the promotion of animal welfare in the country, come and visit our center and see the little ones born there and the other happy dogs that have totally forgotten their dreadful experience.