BAGUIO CITY March 24 – The City Veterinary and Agriculture Office (CVAO) intensified the city’s anti-stray animal campaign in the light of the first recorded rabies case even at the height of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine.
City Veterinarian Dr. Brigit Piok said that there will be no let up in the implementation of the city’s anti-stray animal campaign to ensure residents keep their dogs and cats in the premises of their homes to protect people from being exposed to the life-threatening rabies caused by animal bites.
She pointed out the difficulty of residents in redeeming their impounded dogs from the city’s dog pound during the quarantine period is the prize that they have to pay for allowing their pets to loiter in their barangays.
The city veterinarian claimed the city government continues to deploy the two teams of the dog pound to go after stray animals in the different city barangays to help rid the city of stray animals that pose a serious threat to the safety of the people even during the implementation of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine.
According to her, the presence of the first rabies case in the city should serve as a warning to the residents to ensure their pets will be confined in the premises of their homes so as not to pose a threat to the safety of the people in their barangays.
Further, the city’s animal bite center will remain open for people wanting to undergo the required tests for the animal bites they got.
Piok explained the city government will continue to conduct euthanasia on unclaimed impounded dogs at the dog pound once the facility reaches its 100-dog capacity to accommodate the stray dogs rounded up from the barangays due to the intensified anti-stray animal campaign.
She reiterated the previous appeal of the city government for barangays to help in the implementation of the city’s anti-stray animal campaign by setting-up their own makeshift dog traps as contribution in the overall efforts to reduce the presence of stray dogs in their areas of jurisdiction and prevent the exposure of the residents to rabies.
She urged residents taking care of pets to be responsible pet owners by making sure their dogs and cats are not loitering around their barangays but instead they must remain confined in the premises of their residences to prevent them from scattering the garbage and their waste that had been considered as public nuisance.
By Dexter A. See