Part of me wishes I brought my dogs, had I known about last summer's Dog Parade. And while the intentions - to protest the act of dogeating and subsequently put an end to the dog meat trade - were good and well-meaning, it also raises questions about the politics of animal cruelty. My vegetarian friend thought the whole thing seemed rather specie-ist, and he did have a point. I guess the cats, horses, rabbits and rodent-like pets can have their own parade. But it's not like the animals deemed for human consumption - namely cows, pigs and chickens - are exempt from animal cruelty practices. Even if we'd rather not think about how chickens are stuffed closely together in crates or how pigs and cows are tortured in the slaughterhouses while we (the carnivore-inclined, anyway) savor our meat, it's pretty obvious that a value judgement has been placed on these animals. Oh, and dogs are meat-eaters, too.

So when we talk about anti-animal cruelty month, do we mean the animals closest to our hearts, like our own pets? Then again, there are also people who work closely with animals in the wild, struggling to preserve their natural habitats or provide an environment that is similar enough. And what about the animals in the zoo or endangered species, or anything worthy of Animal Planet documentaries?

We do have an Animal Welfare Act that is not being enforced to the letter. Dog meat is openly being sold in wet markets and certain eateries in Baguio City and the Cordilleras, and illegal slaughterhouses are also operating from there. What makes it difficult for groups like Linis Gobyerno to crack down on this trade is that their local officials and policemen are a part of the trade and likewise, a part of the problem. And because they have business interests to protect and are of the belief that either the Animal Welfare Act does not apply to their areas or are upholding a certain dogeating tradition by following a skewed version of it (one that makes sense in their heads, I suppose), it makes them feel invincible or untouchable in that sense. Some of these dogeaters are opposed to the Animal Welfare Act because they see it as colonialism at work - Americans have deemed our culture shameful for making the practice of dogeating "normal" - so for them, eating dogs is a rebellion against the colonial mindset.

And speaking of colonialism - how much of it has affected how we view dogs as man's best friend, or care for dogs as pets? I've always viewed dogs as pets, so I would never even dream of eating them. But I always knew the dogeaters were never far away, and a dog that runs away from home never to return is as good as eaten. It's a morbid cultural mindset, but one that could hold a grain of truth, even by half. Of course, I come from one of those barangays that aren't gated, and while our area is relatively peaceful, the grimier side of things are not too far off in the neighboring barangays (squatters, gangs, etc.) which admittedly may be as much of an assessment of class as it is of safety - and I'm not just talking about the safety of dogs here.

There are many stray dogs, though, and it's only a matter of time before they get caught. Some dogs, however, aren't even strays, but are let loose by their owners to roam in their immediate surroundings and even manage to find their way home. While walking my dog in the neighborhood a few months ago, I saw a truckful of dogs, most likely headed for the pound to be burned to death. Somewhere in the NCR, dogs that are placed in the pound aren't supposed to be killed, but are killed anyway. Mayor's orders. Ask him about the Animal Welfare Act, he's probably giving you his own version (or his own law), but he obviously didn't do his homework.

The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) has an active adoption program in place. But a lot of privileged dog lovers seem to have a preference for those imported purebreds, something I could never fully comprehend since I have never been particularly fussy when it comes to dog breeds. It's like collecting car models. Can't a love for a dog transcend their breed? Which probably makes it hard to find new homes for dogs that have a history, or have been "broken" to some extent. And when there are just too many dogs taking up space in an already crowded pound, the easiest option is to euthanize. Compassion and Responsibility for Animals (CARA) Philippines, however, proposes to nip the problem in the bud to keep unwanted litter from spreading and straying all over the place - by spaying and neutering - rather than killing them.

When a global community of animal rights groups gets wind of our situation, they are about as passionate as they are condescending. While it's true that there are bloody idiots in Baguio and Benguet who are complicit in letting their own officials get away with the illegal dog meat trade, these First World groups always have to emphasize that such a practice is unheard of in their own countries and generally put our race in a bad light by discouraging tourism in the Philippines and calling for a boycott for all Filipino products, and all because of how Filipinos in general supposedly treat dogs. It's like 1904 all over again - how the Igorots were showcased in the St. Louis World's Fair as dogeaters, an exoticism to be gawked at, at the expense of showing who exactly was master and who was colony. This piece of history is biting us in the ass again by way of globalization, and how many times must we reiterate that not all Filipinos are dogeaters and that there are Igorots who are disgusted with the idea of eating dogs and the fact that their "tradition" is often namedropped to justify the practice of dogeating. Our country is in enough bad shape as it is, economically and politically, and leave it to the Westerners to screw it up for our people even further, precisely at the moment when times are very hard. There are other solutions, I'm sure, just not easy ones.

And why does a Western culture single us (and perhaps China and Korea) out for abhorable treatment of dogs when they have puppy mills over there? But of course, tit for tat doesn't exactly solve anything, does it?

Labels: governance, health, politics