posted by Michel on Aug 4

Lately, there’s been a lot of upheaval amongst animal welfare supporters around the world. What happened was that an appalling video has surfaced, showing the gassing of innocent “stray” dogs by means of exhaust fumes. In the Philippines, known as “tambucho gassing” (tambucho means exhaust in Tagalog).

To make matters worse, this incredibly crude and painful method is approved by the Philippines’ Committee on Animal Welfare (CAW) under the country’s Animal Welfare Act of 1998 (RA 8485). Which makes one wonder what sort of people and organisations sit in this committee!!!

I won’t post links to the video evidence or the pictures here, but very clearly, this is totally unacceptable. Fortunately, a movement has started to combat these outrageous killings. You can lend a hand simply by signing the petition. And don’t worry, in my own experience, this site doest NOT inundate your inbox with spam, so it’s completely safe. Here’s the link: Tambucho gassing is not euthanasia

Of course, we all realise that the stray dog and cat populations need to be regulated. However, ruthless killing is NOT the way. The so-called Trap / Neuter / Return (TNR) scheme is! A lot of research has gone into this and time and again it has been shown that TNR works effectively and humanely.

If this gassing, and let’s not forget, other inhumane methods of killing animals for whatever purpose is allowed to continue, we should all be ashamed of being part of this species. If you want my opinion, we’re messing up our stewardship of our own planet. Should you be religiously inclined and believe that God himself put us in charge, then I feel that he could not have made a worse choice

posted by Michel on Jun 28

Remember this horrifying image of an unhappy, sick and lonely young dog? He was featured in this previous post.

Smeagol at ASU awaiting treatment

It is a dog we called Smeagol and he was found by an acquaintance of ours. Fortunately, he started feeling much better already with the ivermectine treatment against demodectic mange and good food. After a few weeks, just before I left, he looked like this:

Smeagol at ASU feeling better already

Well, the good news is that after his adoption by Doreen, an Aklan State University VetMed student, she’s nursed him back to health so that we are extremely happy to be able to report that he now looks much and much better. His fur has not come back fully yet, and chances are that it will never completely come back, but at least he’s a healthy and playful dog now, enjoying the company of his family. Excellent news!!!

Smeagol is now taken care of by Doreen

Taking a rest

posted by Michel on May 7

Good news for the animals in our care: at last we managed to find a knowledgeable and kind soul willing to help look after the animals. We proudly welcome Chan Bautista to our team!

Chan Bautista, our first volunteer

Chan is a student at the School of  Veterinary Medicine of Aklan State University (ASU) in Banga. During term he lives in Kalibo, not too far away from us. Chan is also the proud guardian of a beautiful Poodle named Keannah.

Keannah at the beach

In fact, he entered Keannah for the Kalibo Dog Show last February. What a beautiful doggie!

On behalf of our animals, I’d like to say “Thanks for helping out Chan, best of luck!” …

posted by Michel on Mar 24

If there is one thing I truly hate about the Philippines, it surely must be cockfighting. Why do I hate it so much? Read on!

A recent article in the Examiner tells us of a representative who wants a cruel and heartless pastime to be registered as “cultural heritage”.

That representative, and indeed the government, fails to recognise cockfighting for what it really is: a national addiction to gambling. Nothing more, nothing less. It has no more to do with Philippine culture than, say, having to go to the loo everyday.

I realise that in our own country, much to my resentment, use of soft drugs is legalised under certain circumstances and that many individuals engage in the drug scene in one way or another. Some make a good living from it. Others, the addicts, are forced to steal to get their daily fix. There are those that use (soft) drugs and carry on living, if only a little shorter. So intertwined with life over here it most certainly is, but calling drugs part of our cultural heritage? NO WAY!!!

Gambling, of course, makes the poor even poorer and the rich even richer. It induces crime and spreads poverty. Additionally, it is simply torture of living creatures that suffer badly and unnecessarily, all in the name of, wait for it, “entertainment” … In short this is definitely NOT what I would want my national cultural heritage to associate with. Should’t cultural heritage be about things that you are really proud of? So what pride can one possibly have over a pair of innocent birds that are forced to kill each other (which they would never do in nature)?

Furthermore, the people that frequent these gruelling and bloody events only teach their offspring that (animal) suffering and drawing blood is “fun” and that gambling is an acceptable pastime. So will these youngsters be guaranteed a peaceful and crimefree society when they grow up? I think not!

Cockfighting must be banned, it’s bad, bad news for filippinos!

Innocent victim of gambling addiction

posted by Michel on Mar 9

Recovering after sterilisation in our garden

Nabas enjoying a decent meal

Sadly enough, not all the animals that we try to save make it. Another one of our beloved guests has slipped through our fingers and died last night. Ginny. Poor little Ginny.

She had a tough life by the looks of it, of only around 2 years. Completely emaciatiated and her little body covered in mange. She had probably been hit by a car judging by her rear hind leg’s limp and the fact that she lived near a very busy road where drivers are not known for their compassion towards other living creatures, human or animal. We tried to give her the best possible treatment. Tried to feed her so she would regain her strength. But all to no avail.  Perhaps the (heart)worms got to her, or some horrible virus, we really don’t know at this point. We’d like to think that we gave her a happier life than the one she had known before: we took her to the beach on many occasions and allowed her to make new friends. She had some good and tasty meals too at first. Alas, her appetite dwindled a few days ago and she died on the morning she would have been taken to the clinic.

Farewell my dear, dear Ginny. At least you knew some love and proper care before you died. We won’t forget you, ever!

An equally sad story is that of our sweet old timer Nabas. In fact, it was Nabas who alerted me to the deplorable state that some local dogs were in as I was driving through her town. So eventually we managed to take Ginny and Jackson as well. Nabas was neglected and left to fend for herself by her owner. When she arrived at our kennel, she really enjoyed the dog food that we gave her. We cleaned her up and although she was clearly not used to being handled, she was a friendly soul. It turned out she was almost completely blind, had numerous smaller tumors as well as arthritis. Still, she enjoyed the regular meals, more comfortable housing and attention she was getting.

So all in all, it didn’t come as a surprise when we heard that poor old Nabas had died. I felt sad, very sad, that we didn’t get to her a few years ago so that we might have given her a better life. In the end, she was only with us for a month and we can only hope that during that time, she felt much better.

Rest in peace dear Nabas!

Ginny shortly after she arrived in our kennel

Nabas having a well deserved rest in her kennel

posted by Michel on Feb 27

I have always believed in the elegant correctness of the JIT principle: Just-In-Time. Well, it appears that the animal world is also aware of this concept, judging by the late, but timely, arrival of the next few guests to our facilities.

First of all, one of the 5 cats from the Bagobos Resto-Grill in Numancia that we caught there to be spayed and neutered, gave birth to 3 beautiful kittens. Since this young family will stay with us for the next 3 months or so, we named Mom “Flower”. She’s very shy when out of the cage that we set aside for her, but inside she’s as sweet as ever and a caring mom.

Flower and her 3 kids

Then the night before we returned to Manila, little Frodo called out from one of the gardens of our neighbours opposite the street. After a few years of rescuing in the Philippines, let me assure you that you develop ears that are well tuned to the cries of kittens. So a quick search in the dark with a flashlight revealed this little fellow:

Frodo in action

Oh and I shouldn’t forget to mention the Bagobos cats themselves of course. Having only a single trap at present, it took us a few days to catch a number of them, but eventually we got 5. Most of them are feral and can’t be handled easily. We’ll return them to the Bagobos restaurant after their sterilisation and medication, so they can continue their job of keeping the rats and mice under control.

4 of the 5 Bagobos cats awaiting sterilisation

posted by Michel on Feb 15

Maplo was found in Sebaste, Antique. She belonged to the sister of a good friend of mine. She was suffering from Canine Distemper. Unfortunately they failed to recognise the seriousness of her condition, attributed the abundant discharge through her nose and eyes to the dog-version of a cold and treated her with anti-biotics only. By the time we got to her, the virus had got to the brain causing her swaying gait. She could no longer be saved and it was decided to humanely euthanise her. However, we will remember her here for the love that she gave to her humans.

Maplo, our very first guest in the dog kennels, didn't survive

Apart from Maplo, all our present rescues are doing fine. A quick recap:

Ino is a female dog of around 8 months old that we found in Sebaste, Antique. She’s shy at first but getting to know us and now developing her playful side. She was diagnosed with demodectic mange, fortunately in the early stages.

Ino rolling in the grass

Ginny is a very young dog that is extremely emaciated, suffering from advanced demodectic mange and probably had an accident of some sort in the past, since she has restricted use of her hind left leg. She’s a curious little character however and has no trouble walking on a leash.

Ginny still a little camera shy

Now that especially Ino and Ginny are getting used to us, we take them to the beach along with our own dogs (all rescues originally), Falco, Snowy and Arwen. Ino really opened up and wanted to play, but she will have to wait a week or so due to her recent sterilisation and arrival. Ginny is a little on edge but clearly enjoys the outings, taking a keen (but careful) interest in her totally new surroundings.

Walk along the beach

Horacio is a feral cat that we caught in a trap that we used to retrieve our escapee Dayang (see previous post). He was sterilised too and after he’s completed his medication of anti-biotics for the operation, we will set him free.

Horacio, our temporary guest

Our final guest is a dog named Jackson. When we picked up Nabas (also see the old abandoned dog in the previous post), bystanders pointed out both Ginny and Jackson to us. He’s a grumpy little fellow, a little underweight, and suffering from demodectic mange. His whole body is affected, but the skin is nor keratinised yet. He should be fine after ivermectine injections.

Jackson receiving treatment at ASU

Not really a rescue story, but very interesting nonetheless, was the encounter I had with Eddy at Aklan State University when I was there for the sterilisation of our rescued animals. Eddy is a fabulous Korean chap: he was camping inside one of the treatment rooms for days so he could be with his sick dog Georgie (perforated intestines due to eating sharp bones) all the time, taking turns with his wife to keep the business going, a travel agency on Boracay island catering especially to Koreans. He’s linked to our site where he’s got some pictures of Ino, Jackson and Horacio. Here’s the URL of his Blog in Korean, so if you’re into the Korean language or want to check out the pics, go take a look: Mr. Subak

Eddy looking after his best friend Georgie

UPDATE: I heard from a friend of Eddy that Georgie died after all. So sad for Eddy to lose his friend …

posted by Michel on Feb 6

As we arrive here, we’re always a bit anxious about what animals will cross our path that need rescue. Usually, we don’t have to wait long until they do … This time, we decided to adopt two cats from the CARA Animal Clinic in Manila, Pola and Dayang-Dayang. They had been there the longest (over a year) and deserved a break. Not all rescues go well and the challenges of running an operation that is still in the early phases of construction, well, proved too much of a challenge really and Dayang showed us that there was still a way out that we hadn’t thought of. A few weeks later, an emaciated female doggie named Ginny performed the same trick and proved that, contrary to popular belief, it WAS possible to escape through the rotating food bowl system. However, the next day she returned by herself, while the shy and ever watchful Dayang remains at large, although we do occasionally catch a glimpse of her. So we’ve put out traps and leave food at a few spot in the hope that we can still catch her.

Pola and Dayang-Dayang check out the hotel room

And the good news is … we DID!!! After managing to elude our traps for 2 weeks, finally Dayang was caught using one of our “raccoon traps” that was sent to us by dear friends and supporters in the U.S.

One day I was coming back from the Sebaste Fiesta, when I noticed an emaciated and mangy looking old dog walking by the side of the road. I stopped and had a word with the apparent neighbours who proclaimed that the house the dog belonged to was for rent with the owners living 45km down the road, with no provisions made for the clearly aging dog. The next day I picked her up and it became apparent she was in dire need of some serious help.

Literally: on the road to recovery!

The sad face of an abandoned old dog

A more mundane task was to improve the interior of the cattery so that the resident cats can behave like normal cats do as much as possible, i.e. scratch, climb and play around. We placed three tree trunks with a few small platforms and provided some climbing facilities and lying space that even our 3-legged Frosty can reach. Although our younger cats seem to use it more that the older ones, the facilities seem to have been received well. Hopefully this will keep them not only happy, but also mentally and physically fit!

Cattery interior with plenty of climbing opportunity

posted by Michel on Jan 12

At last the work on our facilities progressed enough for us to be able to allow the cats into their safe haven, their own cattery! We lost 3 cats (Mimi, Jose, Roady) over the past few years to the dangers of running around unsupervised and we decided that the cats’ safety was now top priority. A few days ago, they were given the opportunity to sniff out their new quarters. These are still a bit bare admittedly, but more fun stuff (like tree trunks to climb and sharpen claws) will be added soon, making them feel at home even more. Here’s an impression:

Inside of one of the catteries

Cats sniffing out their new home

From left to right: Bora, Mitch, Frosty and Mozart check out the first of our two catteries. The second one may be seen on the top picture on the right. The catteries can either be connected or kept separate whenever that is required, e.g. to give special care to kittens.

posted by Michel on Dec 8

Thanks to our hardworking builders led by Engr. Conrado Letrodo Jr., progress on the construction of our 2 catteries, 6 dog kennels and clinic is good. There are 2 quarantine kennels that are separated from the other kennels by walls which are situated right next to the clinic. Our (soon to be) vets from ASU that perform the small operations there such as spaying and neutering, can put the animals in these quarantine kennels to recover. Similarly, the catteries may be separated from one another so that one can be used as a recovery or quarantine.

Catteries in the far left corner and dog kennels

Dog kennels

The guys at work: well done chaps!