IWCT
July 2005 NEWSLETTER - Part 2 |
IT'S A BLOODY BUSINESS –
a report by Alan Whittaker
It's the stench you do not forget.
Fear stinks.
The dogs, nine of them, had been
rescued by the Animal Kingdom Foundation. They were
in the back of the AKF truck which was parked in the
shade of a police station - the dogs were evidence
- and they were being fed and given water. They were
free from the threat of slaughter, but they were a
piteous sight. All of them were s alivating in streams.
The s aliva was simply pouring out of their mouths.
They were not interested in the food; their appetites
would return much later. Well, it would for some of
them. Most of the dogs stood with heads hanging, some
just lay inert on the floor. You could almost touch
the hopelessness. All were distressed. All had dull,
lifeless coats. Most were hyperventilating. One dog,
darker than the others, tried to make his own personal
space, impossible in the circumstances. He barked
weakly at the others. He was ignored. They were too
stressed to react. They were all in their own individual
worlds of horror, particularly the little fawn and
white bitch making herself as small as possible in
a corner. She was traumatised. She was in her own
private hell.
Outside, in the sunshine of the
Philippines, after their rescue from a slaughterhouse,
when they were no longer in danger of the knife or
the blowtorch, those eight dogs were stinking of fear.
It's a smell you do not forget.
The eaters of pulutan, snacks
made of dog meat, rarely if ever see the cruelty behind
their self-indulgent habit. But people like Renato
Camarillo know about it at first hand. They cause
it.
Camarillo is an amateur killer
of dogs, but he is a very experienced one. He's been
butchering lost, stolen, and bought dogs for years.
What Camarillo does is illegal and cruel. But he does
not do it furtively in some remote corner. His slaughterhouse
is at the back of his dingy cafe where he lives with
an extended family. The cafe is in the market of the
small town of Bani in Pangasinan province on the main
Philippines island of Luzon. When we, the AKF team
and the local members of the Criminal Investigation
and Detection Group, the national police force AKF
works with, burst into the killing room at the back
of the house, we witnessed a scene out of the Middle
Ages. An animal was hanging by its nose from a hook
in the ceiling. Its fur had been burnt off and it
was barely recognisable as a dog. It was just a blackened
carcass. Standing next to the suspended body was Camarillo,
blowtorch in hand. There were sharp knives and hatchets
strewn around and a plastic bowl was three quarters
full of blood. The earth floor was still wet from
the water that had been slopped over it to wash away
more blood. Chickens were roaming the dark, cramped
room, and a small boy of six or seven, thought to
be Camarillo's grandson, was also walking around.
Seeing dogs slaughtered was nothing out of the ordinary
for him.
The dogs waiting their turn for
the knife were crammed into two far-too-small cages
on the floor. The slaughtering took place a couple
of feet from them. This is sadistic, an added and
totally avoidable cruelty. The dogs, all of them,
sat silent. It is tempting to say watching and waiting.
There was no barking, no scratching at the bars, no
trying to escape. That in itself speaks volumes.
In order to get the dogs out
of the cages the AKF team had to break the bars with
bolt cutters. One dog, not re alising it was with
friends, clamped its teeth to the cage in an attempt
to avoid being taken out.
Camarillo showed
no remorse when arrested, only surprise and a slight
indignation. He said he had a heart condition and
would have either a stroke or a heart attack if taken
to the police station some fifty kilometres away.
He even had the gall to suggest we take one of his
sons/accomplices instead of him! This obese dog butcher
had been arrested while still holding the blowtorch.
The police seemed to be weakening a little, so I reminded
them that the law had been broken, the perpetrator
caught in his own illegal slaughterhouse, and that
justice had to be done. Camarillo had to be taken
to the police station for "processing".
The prisoner was allowed a shower and a change of
clothes - the police were more indulgent than I would
have been! - and taken off for questioning. I confess,
and I was not the only one, that seeing Camarillo
having his fingerprints taken was very satisfying.
While our investigators drove off with the rescued
dogs, I stayed behind to make sure the butcher of
Bani was securely put in the police van. This happened
in full view of the crowd that always gathers on these
occasions. When I suggested that many of the onlookers
were dog-eating customers, the inspector nodded in
silent agreement.
Camarillo, and particularly his
wife, did not enjoy the crowd's presence, but the
AKF team did, and so did the police. The onlookers
now know from personal experience that AKF will bring
dog killers to justice and that eating dogs has to
cease. Word of mouth is the most powerful publicity.
The Bani raid illustrated yet
again, that eating dog meat is a health hazard because,
among other reasons, the killing is unhygienic. It
also showed that children are being brut alized by
being "educated" into thinking that cruelty
is normal. AKF learned this a long time ago; unfortunately,
the authorities are often slow learners.
One dog, as often happens, stands
out from the rest of the nine. She is young, beautiful,
and still thinks man is her best friend. In a cage
in the slaughterhouse, when the dogs were being rescued,
she perked up and slowly wagged her tail. She gently
licked the hands of her rescuer and, when she was
in the lorry after the raid, she looked about her
and occasionally, softly, wagged her tail. She had
so obviously been a much-loved pet. Presumably, she
had been picked up in the street. Somewhere, possibly
a child, somebody is missing a friendly, too-trusting
little dog.
As you will see from this newsletter
and the enclosed AKF newsletter, we are making progress
in bringing about the demise of the dog trade albeit
we still have a way to go and my hope is that you
will feel the same way as I do inasmuch as we are
closing down the illegal dog slaughterhouses and rescuing
many dogs, the problem is the same as always the more
work we undertake, the more money it all costs and
we are continuously relying on your generosity which
goes without saying is immensely appreciated to continue
this vital work. We ask that if it is at all possible
would you please make as generous a donation to us
as is possible.
On behalf of the innocent dogs
in the Philippines we truly thank you for caring.
Yours sincerely,
Click
Here to read
our Philippine Newsletter ... Animal Kingdom Foundation
Inc.
• Back
to Newsletter Main
