Your voice has had impact!
Thank you to all of you who responded to our request in March 2006 to stand up against the resumption of dog eating in the Philippines.
Wonderful News from Animals Asia:
At the first inter-agency meeting on dog slaughter and trade, government representatives backed off of their initial support for legalising the dog meat trade, and passed a resolution stating that "the commercialisation of dog meat including dog slaughter is not acceptable". However, although this is a wonderful first step the fight is not over, our Philippine partners, the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), remain cautiously optimistic, but warn that. "Stating that they are not pushing for dog meat legalisation is one thing, and doing something about the rampant dog slaughter in their region is another", says PAWS representative Mona Consunji, who attended the meeting.
PAWS are continuing the fight by now asking that the Benguet officials take their efforts a step further by passing a resolution promising to enforce the Philippine's Animal Welfare Act, which bans dog slaughter and consumption outright. PAWS is also working to close the legal loopholes which currently allow restaurants to advertise dog meat as a "tribal" dish on their menus.
We will continue to keep you informed about PAWS' ongoing negotiations with the government and may call upon you to again send a message against the practice if needs be.