Established by a British group in June 2000 as an animal welfare group, Animal Kingdom Foundation, Inc. (AKF) went straight into rescuing the slaughter-bound Filipino dogs from the underground business of trading dog meat for human consumption as soon as it received its official accreditation.
Test-running an animal protection law that was approved by the Philippine’s Tenth Congress on February 11, 1998, AKF launched in 2000 a massive campaign right at the epicenter of the trade; in the Cordillera region specifically Baguio City and Benguet province where dog meat buying and eating happened on a daily-basis.
Dog traders from the CALABARZON, mostly from Batangas and Laguna provinces, were the main suppliers of live dogs during these times. They snatch the dogs off the roads, bind its snouts and feet as tight as they can, pack 70-100 dogs inside a hidden compartment of a vehicle and transport the dogs to the north for more than 7 hours. Most of the dogs would have died of suffocation, ruptured organs and from the extreme heat inside the vehicle.
The northern buyers would blowtorch the furs off the dog’s entire body, butcher it and deliver the meat to restaurants in Baguio City and La Trinidad. In 2015, AKF totally closed-down the blatant selling of dog meat in Baguio public market after launching a series of raids on restaurants and market stalls in Baguio and La Trinidad.
The 1998 animal welfare law did not anticipate the enormous operation of the trade rendering it toothless against the syndicates; they were fined 40 USD for a haul of 100 or more slaughter-bound dogs that which the dog traders make profit from of nearly the same amount just for a single dog. AKF has since then lobbied for the amendment of Republic Act 8485 hurting the syndicate’s further with a 100 USD per dog penalty.
The trade has significantly been affected reducing the number of dog traders from the CALABARZON area prompting the Cordillera group to transport the dogs, now mostly carcasses, from the south.
This dog meat trade campaign has widely created an awareness to the public about animal welfare and, with social media as a tool, AKF has turned to rescuing and responding to extreme and emergency cases of animal cruelty in the past 4 years. Still utilizing the now amended Animal Welfare Act of 1998 (RA 10631) AKF has organized a volunteer-based legal assistance team called CLAWS—Collaboration for Legal Animal Welfare S—to guide and aid the public on its rising concern over animal welfare issues and cases of animal cruelty.
It has been nearly two decades of carrying the cause for AKF but, as changing the worlds point of view goes, the fight is just in its infancy. AKF knows fully well that it needs the whole country’s support to effect more positive change for the animals.
The fight continues.
Editor’s note: CLAWs stands for Center for Legal Assistance on Welfare and Protection.
The column CLAWs Protection will come out every second Sunday of the month.
AKF rehabilitates and re-homes the rescued dogs and a few cats from its shelter in Capas, Tarlac. This haven for the rescued animals was built in 2006 and is purely operating on donations. Please visit #AKFanimalrescue on FB or email AKF at: akfadvocates@gmail.com
