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Aspins rewrite K9 history

ASPINS, the Philippine native dogs, are finallymaking history.

Two aspins have graduated with 25 other purebred dogsfrom the Philippine Coast Guard’s (PCG) K9 school and will be joining theroster of security dogs guarding the country’s ports against smuggled narcoticsand bombs.

CGK9 Cola

They proudly trooped to the stage with their handlers to receive their diplomasduring a ceremony honouring them at the PCG base camp in Taguig last week.

The PCG is an armed and uniformed unit attached to theDepartment of Transportation. It is tasked with securing maritime publictransport like ships and ferry boats. Detecting drugs and bombs as well assearch and rescue operations are part of its job description.

PCG dog handlers also learned water rescue, survival,swimming, scuba diving and first aid. But they first had to go through a rigidscreening process.

“We first check to see if they are animal lovers so theywould be concerned about the dog who would be their daily companion. They alsohave to be physically fit and unafraid of being bitten,” PCG Commander Allen J.Dalangin said.

But the dogs were taught only bomb and narcoticsdetection. “They are not trained to attack because that would be dangerous forthe passengers,” he clarified.

Next year, they will begin training dogs for rescue aswell as tracking human scent which is necessary in the search for survivorsduring a calamity.

The aspins, named Cola and Fiona, successfully passed alltests for the one-year Coast Guard K9 Handlers Course together with a JackRussell named Joyce, 5 Labradors, 16 Belgian Malinois, 1 German Shepherd, 2Golden Retrievers.

Though they looked friendly, not all the dogs can behugged and stroked, Dalangin explained. It all depends on their personalities.The Belgian Malinois, for instance, are considered the best security dogs butthey can be unpredictable and moody with strangers.

Author with CGK9 Joyce

The K9 graduates all stood at attention beside theirhandlers during the two-hour ceremony but a few decided later to skip theformalities and do what dogs do best.

One Golden Retriever stood on his hind legs as ifprodding his handler to play or seek shelter from the heat of the sun. Somedogs lay on the concrete driveway, noses on their handlers’ boots and hind legsapart.

Of the 27 graduates, 20 are bomb sniffers while 7 are trained to look forillegal drugs.

“We have a quota of producing 20% narcotics detectiondogs for every batch and we are trying to increase this to 30%,” Dalanginstated.

The bomb sniffers are chosen according to theirbehaviour, he said.

Hyperactive dogs who excitedly scratch at boxes andcontainers when they sniff something are trained for narcotics detectionbecause a bomb might go off if there is too much movement around it. For thiskind of work, dogs that can calmly sit down once they smell explosive devicesare preferred.

Cola and Fiona are the first aspins in Philippine caninehistory trained to detect bombs. Foreign breeds are traditionally used todetect explosives and illegal drugs because they are known for theirintelligence and observation skills.

As an example, Belgian Malinois Narda topped the classbecause she impressed PCG officers with her 100 percent accuracy rate innarcotics detection. “Belgian Malinois are highly intelligent, very vigilantand observant, and they have high intensity and high endurance,” LieutenantCommander Famela Aspuria, who is also Officer-in-Charge of the CG VeterinaryService, said.

The aspins were donated by civilians after they heard CGofficials announce on television that they would be accepting and adoptinglocal dogs.

PCG officers believe training native dogs would allowthem to cut their canine food budget and save on money spent in purchasingforeign breeds. The local dogs are also expected to be more adjusted totropical weather and therefore be less prone to disease.

CHK9 Fiona

The K9 school accepted 38 dogs at the 

start of thetraining program last October. Eleven dropped out of the program for variousreasons. Three Aspins, namely Pacman, Charice and Arnel, flunked this yearbecause they lacked focus and were a bit moody.

But PCG officials are giving them a second chance and thesiblings will be joining the next batch of trainees.

The three dogs, together with their siblings Manny and Pacquiao, werecatapulted into instant celebrity status last year after the PCG announced thatthey were being eyed for security work and were undergoing puppy training atthe base camp. This kind of training encourages them to go after the ball beingheld or thrown by a puppy handler.

Aspin Manny, who was about 3 months old at the time, didn’tseem to have the heart for the game. He would often escape from the puppy pento go exploring in the garden.

Manny and Pacquiao have since been adopted by Coast Guardpersonnel. Charice, Arnel and Pacman are still at the base awaiting their nextchance at training.

Their mother, Azumi, was adopted by PCG personnel twoyears ago at the Manila Harbor. The five pups inherited her short legs, stockybuild and long nose.

Azumi, meanwhile, had another litter of 7 puppies. Onedied, five were given away because they lacked “the ball drive”, and one iscurrently in the puppy training program.

The PCG has so far trained 126 regular working dogscomposed of 100 explosive detection and 26 narcotic detection canines.

(VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. Vera is Latin for "true.")

===============================================

This was published at Fit to Post The Inbox at yahoo.ph on Oct. 19, 2011.

Also published at Vera Files website

See related post: ASPINS TRAINED FOR BOMB SNIFFING

(If you like this article, please share it on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or others. Thanks.)

THE SPIRITUAL LIVES OF ANIMALS

By Khrysta Imperial Rara

Episode 55, November 3, 2011

Guest: Leng Velasco

Last week’s discussion on the spiritual lives of animals was very interesting and daring, if I may say so, because it delved into a topic that is taboo in the academe, except perhaps in the field of anthropology.

The topic was made even more unusual due to the experiences of our guest, Reiki master and healer Leng Velasco.

ANIMALS AND REIKI

Reiki is a Japanese method of healing that allows the practitioner to channel universal life-force energy for the purpose of healing a patient. Anyone can practice reiki but you must first be attuned by a reiki master. Attunement simply means that the reiki master opens and unblocks your chakras or energy centers so you can easily access the divine energy.

Leng was first attuned as a reiki practitioner in 2006 but she was healing animals even before then. “In fact, animals are the reason that I went into reiki,” she quipped.

Leng avers that reiki is a very effective method of healing specially when coupled with psychic abilities. As an example, she recounted how she healed her first animal patient, a friend’s rabbit.

"I first asked the rabbit for permission to heal him and then he approached me. As I stroked him, I sensed that he had an unseen wound that was already infested with maggots. True enough, I found such a wound hidden beneath his thick fur on one paw. My friend didn’t know about the wound,” she recalled.

Leng then advised the rabbit’s human to bring the animal immediately to a veterinarian because the paw needed to be amputated. Leng’s friend later told her that she was right – the vet had to amputate one paw because it couldn’t be saved anymore.

I asked Leng, who also heals people, if she feels anything different when she heals people and when she works on animals. “Healing animals feels very natural and the energy is free-flowing,” she explained.

She said she always asks the animal’s permission first because some just want to be left alone. “You have to be patient with them and explain first the concept of reiki. Then once they understand, they agree to it,” she said.

“When healing people, on the other hand, you first have to compose yourself and you need a lot of positive energy,” she added.

I can relate to that. As a reiki practitioner, I always feel ready to heal animals because their energy is so pure. People, on the other hand, can be more difficult to heal because they carry a lot of emotional baggage. So a reiki practitioner will have to work on healing not only the physical body but the person’s emotions as well. And not all people are willing to open up and release their negative emotions.

ANIMAL SOULS

So let’s put two and two together. If reiki is divine energy and animals can feel and benefit from this divine or spiritual energy, it’s only logical then that animals are spiritual beings too. And if they are spiritual beings, then they must have a soul.

I have to say this because I have met many people who insist that animals don’t have souls. My mom, who has loved dogs and cats since she was a little girl, still subscribes to the idea that animals have no souls because that was what they were taught in a private Catholic school.

I guess many members of the Catholic faith resort to this spin so they will not have any guilt or remorse when they eat animals. For how can you savor veal in white cream sauce or kare kare or chicken and pork adobo when you are told that the animals on your dinner plate have souls?

When I asked Leng if she thinks that animals are spiritual beings trapped in physical body, she disagreed with the word “trapped”.

“I would rather not say trapped because it was their choice to incarnate in their chosen bodies,” she replied.

RAISON D’ETRE

Leng subscribes to the Hindu and Buddhist beliefs that like us, animals have a purpose in life. I agree. Many of my cats and dogs have come into my life to be my friends and companions, while others have come to teach me certain lessons. One particularly special feline named D'Artagnan pushed me into the animal protection advocacy and another came to me with a message – that reincarnation does exist.

In Leng’s case, her brown dachshund Duke had a single goal . “He came to be my own baby because I was told by doctors when I was 17 that I would never have children. This is difficult for a woman to accept because family is important,” she said.

Duke the dachshund was a sickly dog since birth. Born January 2001, he was given to Leng when he was but three months old, in April. After staying for a week with her, he had to undergo major surgery for pancreatitis and was diagnosed as calcium deficient. “He survived that operation but his sight was already affected,” Leng recalled.

Then in 2003, he suffered from coumarin poisoning. “His gums bled and he developed hematoma or blood clots all over his body,” Leng continued. “Doctors gave him a 50/50 chance of recovery but he made it once again.”

Unknown to Leng, more was still to come. “Duke was diagnosed with the most critical illness last February 28, 2009. He had bone cancer and a tumor measuring 45mm on his left cheek. I was advised to have him euthanized but I refused because I had a strong feeling that he would make it once more,” she said.

Leng asked for another more sympathetic vet to attend to her dog at the UP Veterinary Hospital. The second doctor recommended chemotherapy but warned her that Duke still had a 50% chance of recovery after the procedure.

Leng, who has the ability to communicate with animals, then took Duke home and asked him what she should do. “I agreed to chemotherapy because when I talked to Duke, he told me to take that chance rather than put him to sleep,” she explained.

The result? Thanks to chemotherapy and massive doses of reiki treatment everyday, Duke is now an active, pesky 11-year old dog who never leaves her side.

Although part of his jaw was eaten away by cancer, he leads a completely normal life as Leng’s “baby”.

“In healing Duke, you healed yourself,” Malotz Quodala, my co-host, stated so aptly.

Euthanasia is a no-no in reiki, says Leng, and this is a significant lesson that she learned from Duke. If she had listened to the vets when they told her Duke had to be euthanized, then she would be filled with guilt and anger now because she would have ended the life of an animal she loved very much and whose time to leave this earth had not yet come.

As another example, Leng also cited the case of her mongrel dog, Brigitte. The dog was having frequent seizures and was always in pain. In March 2011, doctors said she had “lamat” in her brain which was causing nasty epileptic spells.

Leng was forced to consider euthanasia once more to end her dog’s suffering.

One day, when the dog was having an attack and was obviously in pain, Leng called three vets to ask them to euthanize the dog and end her suffering. But strangely, the vets she contacted in early April did not have the medicines needed for euthanasia. So she gave Brigitte reiki energy to ease her pain. The dog fell asleep and never woke. “She died peacefully in her sleep,” Leng said.

RAINBOW BRIDGE

In response to a listener’s query about whether dogs go to heaven when they die,

Leng recalled that once, she decided to check and see where all her animals who had departed from this life had gone. She meditated and saw them all together in a wonderful place that she later learned was called “Rainbow Bridge”.

“They were all together in this huge, beautiful garden where there were no fights. It was so beautiful that I didn’t want to leave the place anymore,” she recalled. “They all recognized me and came running to me. I was so happy because they remembered me.”

She, however, is quick to add that this awesome place is not necessarily heaven. “They are in a spiritual realm where they are awaiting rebirth,” she opined.

Malotz then asked an important question – must one always have to meditate to see these things?

“Meditation is a must to access your inner self,” Leng replied.

To this, I would like to add that meditation is a must for healers so they can relax, replenish their energies, raise their energy level and protect themselves before a healing session.

It was certainly an enjoyable exchange because Leng shared a lot of her unique and interesting personal experiences. She sees the spirits or “souls” of animals often with peripheral vision. “They have a form. Sometimes I see them still in their physical bodies, sometimes they are just all white,” she explained.

Author Ptolemy Tompkins, in his book The Divine Life of Animals describes several sightings of a non-physical essence leaving an animal’s body at the time of death. In one case, fellow author Eileen Garrett recounted how, after the suicide of her parents when she was still a young girl, she was put in the care of a strict aunt who punished her when she said she could see spirits. To get back at her aunt, Garrett killed her favorite ducklings. This is Garrett’s story in her own words:

“Bending over the edge of the pond, I caught each small duckling

as it came floating by and held each one under the water, one

after another, till I had drowned the entire brood. I laid them in a row

on the grass beside me, and as I contemplated them I became filled

with a terrible dread of the wrath to come. I felt now that God

himself might come to punish me for this, and I remained rooted to

the spot, frozen with fear, awaiting the force of his anger. The

very intensity of my fear created a state of suspended quietness in

which I seemed scarcely to breathe, yet I was alert and waiting,

anticipating the final overwhelming disaster.

In this condition I gazed at the little bodies lying on the grass,

half hoping that somehow they might still be alive. The little dead

bodies were quiet, but a strange movement was occurring all

about them. A gray smoke-like substance rose up from each form.

This nebulous, fluid stuff wove and curled as it rose in winding spiral

curves, and I saw it take new shape as it moved out and away

from the quiet forms. As I watched the spectacle, fear gave

way to amazement. I became almost joyful, for I thought the

ducklings were coming alive again, and I waited in tense expectancy.”

SOUL SIGHTINGS

There are numerous accounts of “soul sightings” in several books. My favorite book by far is Bill D. Schul’s Animal Immortality which documents the experiences of many people whose pets had died. In all documented cases, the animals stayed on with their human guardians even after they had left their physical bodies.

When my mom’s 10-year old Persian cat Good Chi died last September 25, she was devastated but she wouldn’t show it. She cried and called me when she found his lifeless body under her bed at about 6am, then wouldn’t talk about the cat or her grief to anyone anymore. That’s really her personality so I was worried that she was not able to grieve properly. But she had him buried in a special place in her garden and visits him there everyday.

Days later, I asked her if she still felt his presence in her room. “I still feel him at my feet when I walk to the toilet in the early morning. And sometimes I suddenly wake up because I feel a weight on the top left corner of my pillow, where he usually sleeps,” she said.

My mom had a stroke in 2005 and limps until now. We all took a leave from work to stay with her for the first two weeks that she was bed-ridden. But after we all had to resume our normal schedules, it was the cat who kept her company 24 hours a day.

Good Chi understood that he could no longer play rough with her. So he gently, patiently and faithfully escorted her every morning to the toilet and stayed there with her. They spent the days together, she, seated on her rocking chair with her loyal cat lying on her lap. At night, he would sleep either on her pillow or on her right arm. Even my dad marveled at the way Good Chi watched over her.

I still talk to Good Chi when I go to my mom’s house. I can’t see him but I know he’s still there. Once, about a week after he passed away, I looked back at her bed as we were leaving the room. I noticed that on the top left corner of her big pillow, a round portion had sunk in, as if some weight had been placed on it.

“Thank you, Good Chi, for sticking around and watching over Mom. You are welcome to stay as long as you want,” I said aloud, not caring whether anyone heard me.

But when I recounted this story to Leng Velasco, she said we must now release Good Chi so he can cross over and then find a way to come back to my mom.

OUR ANIMALS IN OUR DREAMS

As another proof of a non-material intelligence that animates animals, several authors have also documented cases where animals who have passed on enter their guardians’ dream world.

Last October 31, Leng witnessed the brutal killing of a dog who was to be sold as dogmeat. She heard the dog cry out but didn’t get to him in time because her feet felt like lead and seemed to stick to the ground. Perhaps it was fear or shock at the scene unfolding several meters away from her at a nearby house.

“The dog, named Saddam, was chained and beaten on the skull four times with a steel pipe,” she recounted. Saddam was her landlord’s one-year old dog and Leng knew him well because she used to feed him.

That night, Saddam came to her in a very vivid dream. She saw his youthful face, pained and sad, and his tearful eyes. At the same time, she felt a sharp pain in her left neck, in the same place where the man had hit Saddam with the pipe. Then the message came clear – the man has to be brought to justice.

Leng is now finding ways to correct this wrong. She is in touch with Animal Kingdom Foundation and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and studying the best option to bring this man to justice.

For my part, I asked her to interpret a dream I had in the early morning of October 30, a Sunday.

My dream went like this:

I was in Rome looking all over the city for my very first Persian cat, D’Artagnan. I spoke to 2-3 people who had given him food and shelter

as he moved from place to place. Then I found him at a veterinary

Clinic at the end of the day. We were reunited and happy. I felt that both he and I had found Home.

Here’s some background on D’Artagnan:

D’Artagnan was a grey and white healthy and intelligent male cat. He was five years old at the time that he died. He was put to sleep by a misguided veterinarian who believed that cats who bite people must be euthanized because they become dangerous once they have tasted human blood.

I wasn’t there when the vet killed my cat and it really turned my world upside-down. It was very traumatic for me and I’m sure those last seconds of his life when the vet threw a stone at him to draw him out of his cage were traumatic for him too.

But Leng said the dream means closure to this distressing event in my life.

She said that the issues have now been resolved and D’Artagnan and I are now at peace on this. She also thinks that D’Art is now ready to come back.

What a wonderful way to end the 55th episode of Kwentuhang Pets Atbp. I am really looking forward to meeting D’Artagnan again.

Coping with the Loss of an Animal

31 October 2011

Guest: Armi Santiago

By Khrysta Imperial Rara

It’s a day away from All Saint’s Day and a couple of days from All Souls’ Day.  It’s that time of the year when most people, in the Philippines at least, are either already visiting the graves of their relatives who have passed away or are still busy cleaning up their memorial plots. Thousands are also  taking advantage of the four-day weekend to go on holiday with friends and family.

I just hope that amid all this, we give at least a minute to think about our beloved companion animals who have already left this earthly plane and are now waiting for us at the Rainbow Bridge.

Last Thursday (Oct. 27), I invited Prof. Armi Santiago of the UP Film Institute to the show to talk about coping with the loss of an animal. I’ve known Armi for a long time and she really loves animals. The fact that her most of her dogs died of old age will attest to this.

RAINBOW BRIDGE

We talked about Rainbow Bridge, which according to many websites, is a beautiful meadow where animals, especially companion animals, go when they die. It’s supposed to be doggie or kitty heaven. There is so much food, water, clean air, and love there.  Animals who were sick or old when they passed are restored to health. They just play and frolic around until it's time for their humans cross over and they go to meet them. Together they then enter the gates of Heaven.

I must admit that it’s a wonderful concept because it’s a comforting thought. All of us want reassurance that our animals will be safe and happy when they leave this material existence.

Yesterday, I had a long discussion with a psychic friend, Leng Velasco. She told me about a dream she had a few years ago. In her dream, she wanted to know where her deceased animals had gone so she was led to a beautiful meadow with bright skies, lots of sun, lots of trees and fresh air, lots of food and fresh water. She saw all her animal friends who had passed and they were happy and healthy. She stayed a while with them then she had to come back.

When I told her that was Rainbow Bridge, she answered: “What’s that? I don’t know that.”  She didn’t know about Rainbow Bridge but she saw it in a dream! I think she must have done some astral travelling to visit her animals. This is another validation of the existence of Rainbow Bridge. Leng is psychic and she can see and sense things that most people don’t know about.

“THEY ARE NOT LOST TO US”

Back to Armi Santiago at the DZUP studio.  Armi is very attached to her animals so she became teary-eyed several times during the program. Her voice cracked and I was afraid she would break down  while talking about her dogs DJ and Sparky. 

Armi comes from a family of animal lovers. Her father taught her how to care for animals and be responsible for them from a very young age. She doesn’t agree with the term “losing a pet” because she believes an animal is never ours to keep in the first place. “They are not lost to us. They return to their Maker who just lent them to us,” she avers.

Her father taught her the importance of giving animals a decent burial and burying all their toys, collars, dishes, etc with them. “It’s a sacrilege to let another animal use them,” she says.

Grieving is a process and for those who love animals, there is no difference between grieving for a beloved person or animal.  The grieving process usually goes through several phases, namely DENIAL, GUILT, ANGER, SADNESS, and DEPRESSION.

Though many humans or guardians go through difficult times when their animal passes, Armi says she has no problem expressing her grief and does not go through denial, guilt, anger nor depression.


Grieving is a personal experience. Just because a person doesn't cry doesn't mean he/she isn't grieving inside. There are many ways to grieve and cope. For some, letting go is not easy. Perhaps the best way is to find meaning in the whole thing, keep your mind busy with other things, write or keep a journal,  do a ritual or a memorial. You can do a ritual with candles and flowers or create scrapbooks or albums in memory of your animal friend. 


When my very first cat died, I sort to do candle-making to keep my mind busy because I just couldn't write. The whole thing was too painful to write down.

D’ARTAGNAN’S ROLE

Armi's lucky. When my very first cat, D’Artagnan, died in 1997, I was devastated. I couldn’t do much work for six months. Every time I was at the computer, or alone in the house, or driving,  I would break down crying.  He was a very intelligent, special and psychic  cat and when a vet euthanized him without my permission,  it turned my world upside down. It  broke relations with my family but it also led me to my present advocacy. I remember I used to spend seven hours or more on the Internet researching similar cases. It was then that I discovered the concept of ANIMAL RIGHTS and WELFARE. I learned that the animal rights movement already had a huge following in the United States but hardly anyone knew about it here in the Philippines.

So the guilt and anger I felt for six months gave way to a determination to help the animals in whatever way I could. The guilt and anger disappeared when I realized that D’Artagnan played a special role in my life – he had come to my life when I was searching for meaning and purpose and he had sacrificed his life so I could find my path.

DO ANIMALS GRIEVE?

Armi described in detail how her dog Sparky died at the age of 18. She could not bring herself to wash Sparky’s beddings.  But when she decided to do it several weeks later, Sparky’s feline best friend, Sweety Pie, lay on the beddings, refused to leave and would not let Armi  get them.

Could it be that Sparky’s spirit was still using the bed so Sweety Pie would not let Armi take it away?

When a stray kitten was born in my garage 15 years ago, I allowed him and his mother to stay. I named him Moustache. Although his mother was all black, Moustache was black and white because he took after his father – a huge male of the same color who would hang out and check on them often. One day, when he was about 3 months old, Moustache kept on crying his heart out outside the kitchen door and whenever I would offer him food, he refused to eat.  Later that day, I saw the body of his father who had been hit by a speeding car. Moustache kept on with his plaintive cries but refused to eat for 3 days. I guess he was mourning the loss of his father.

Another one of my cats, Bonne Chance, refused to eat for 2 days after Bagheera, her dashing jet black mate, died from severe colds that vets were not able to cure. She also refused to let her 2 kittens suckle. We force-fed her on the third day and when she saw that her kittens were licking off the milk dripping from her mouth, she relented and let them suckle again.

So do animals grieve? Of course they do but their different personalities deal with sorrow in varied ways.

REINCARNATION?

A listener texted to ask if animals reincarnate after die.  Armi replied by recounting her experience with her dogs, Sparky in particular. Armi has the habit of bringing each of her cats and dogs to the statue of the Virgin Mary in her residence in the UP campus. She says a prayer for each one while holding them close to the statue. Sparky, apparently, has the habit of smelling and licking the statue and pawing at it.

When a colleague of her husband gave him a puppy months after Sparky died, they accepted the gift and called him Toffee. One day, while Armi was holding Toffee up to the Virgin Mary, the pup suddenly smelled, licked and pawed at the statue just like Sparky used to do when she was still around. This made Armi wonder if Sparky had indeed come back as Toffee. But she decided that Sparky was Sparky and Toffee was Toffee and Toffee was merely Sparky’s gift to them.

Personally, I have had similar experiences. Some of my cats have come back and I never had a doubt about who they were in their previous lifetimes. The signs were all over the place.


But that’s the subject of our radio program this Thursday, November 3. We'll be discussing the animal soul, the spiritual lives of animals and their role in our lives. Psychic and reiki healer Leng Velasco will share her insights and experiences with us. 


 For those who can’t listen in, I’ll be writing about it after the show.  A bientot!  

WILD IN THE CITY

EPISODE 31             MAY  12, 2011

GUEST: ANNA MARIA GONZALES

             PRESIDENT OF THE WILD BIRD CLUB OF THE PHILIPPINES  (WBCP)

Posted by Khrysta Imperial Rara

“THERE ARE NO WILD ANIMALS UNTIL MAN MAKES THEM SO.”   Mark Twain

I cannot imagine a world without animals. Whether they’re companion dogs and cats, or inhabitants of the seas and forests, the presence of animals adds a touch of magic to an otherwise humdrum world. We live in a highly competitive and stressful world where work seems to be the main preoccupation for most people. But seeing a black and yellow butterfly flutter around the garden or a pied fantail tease a dog into play makes me pause from whatever I’m doing and watch in utter fascination.  A few seconds of enchantment make me forget the hassles of work and allow the mind to start afresh.

Anna Maria Gonzales, architect and urban developing expert, explained that animals have existed for millions of years while man as homo sapiens has inhabited the Earth for only 200,000 years. So it is man who has encroached into the land of the animals, if we are to view evolution from that perspective. Then he built farms and cities, subdivisions and resorts. In doing so, he appropriated lands otherwise occupied by the animals, called himself “civilized” and called them “wild”.

So now we have “urban wildlife”, a term I consider to be an oxymoron. They are the frogs, geckos, lizards, birds, snakes, and other “untamed” animals that have made their homes in the urban setting. Why did they choose to live in our subdivisions or villages? Well, as Anna explained, they were already there before our subdivisions, villages and cities were built. Perhaps “displaced populations” is a more apt term. They, too, have a survival instinct so they go – or stay – where there is food, water, shelter and a place to breed – or privacy.  So many of these urban wildlife species make their homes in places where they can be hidden from man’s view, places where there is thick vegetation and abandoned structures, like parks, cemeteries, empty structures, abandoned cars, tall trees, rusty, neglected pipes, etc…  

“Humans are king” and “Technology will take care of everything” seem to be the motto of urban development from the day man first built settlements until now, Anna says.  Forest trees are razed to the ground to make way for subdivisions where houses are equipped with air conditioning units to make up for the cool air that seems to have disappeared with the trees. We live in comfort while we destroy the environment.

Many of these urban wildlife species are beneficial to man and environment.  Malotz recalled the bats that roosted in her mom’s place. While they are often hunted for their meat,  Anna pointed out that bats are an indicator species  - their presence indicates a healthy environment while their absence from a place where they should normally roost indicates an unhealthy environment. Plus everyone knows that fruit bats play a key role in an ecosystem – that of propagating the seeds of fruit trees.             

 As such, they are no longer just indicator species. They become keystone species.

Though we may not be aware of it, the animals in our midst have a vital role to fulfill in our “urban ecosystem”. Frogs eradicate mosquitoes and other insects, birds are both predator and prey and are also an indicator species. Animals, as Anna said, give us a sense of connectedness with the rest of life. They can help restore our lost connection to the natural world. They are also proof of a higher consciousness at work. And, as I said earlier, animals  enthrall us and make us laugh with their antics and unusual ways.

DEALING WITH URBAN WILDLIFE

So what do we do with the wild animals in our midst? Compromise would be best, I guess. Be compassionate and know that this planet is not ours alone. We share the Earth with a myriad other species. We can build more cities but let’s take them into consideration too.

 Wildlife corridors or animal travel corridors can help the animals cross under a road and meet up with friends and family on the other side of a busy street, for instance.  And perhaps a little “planned neglect” can help too – why not allow shrubs and some weeds to grow in our empty lots so grass birds and other species can feed and make their home there. It won’t hurt you if the land is not occupied or being used anyway.

NO TO TAMBUCHO GASSING -- AGAIN!!

By Khrysta Imperial Rara

We had Luis Buenaflor of Animal Kingdom Foundation as guest on Kwentuhang Pets Atbp last April 28. The discussion centered on what Luis called "the tambucho murders" or the killing of unclaimed stray dogs in pounds through carbon monoxide poisoning using exhaust fumes of vehicles. This was already a big issue last year when a video of dogs being gassed somewhere in southern Philippines circulated in the Net. After the animal welfare groups campaigned to end it, the Committee on Animal Welfare voted to put a stop to tambucho gassing. Last month, most committee members voted to bring it back. It is important to note that most CAW members are veterinarians who are expected to look out for the animals.

Some of the highlights of that discussion:

- The Animal Welfare Act (RA 8485) of 1998 has no implementing rules and regulations (IRR) yet. This is truly ridiculous. How can a law be effective without IRR? No wonder this law is not functioning! This, I think, is the height of incompetence. The IRR should be done within a year after a law is passed. Luis brought up the issue of legality of the CAW which has been in existence for more than 10 years now. To come up with the IRR, Government is supposed to

consult with the different stakeholders, work out issues and find solutions. In this particular issue, animal groups want the clause allowing tambucho gassing taken out due to the inhumane nature of the act.

Before the program, I spoke to CAW member Dr, Karlo Gicana of the UP Veterinary Hospital. He said tambucho gassing will be temporary and will be taken out eventually. He said they just want to give the local government units (lgu) time to work out a program and find a budget for the alternatives to the local way of using carbon monoxide fumes to kill dogs. Problem is, just how much time is needed to do this? The IRR, which should have been done in one year, is still unfinished after more than 12 years! What if the lgu's can't get their act together and continue gassing the dogs since it's allowed anyway?

- Most members of the CAW are government agencies. They outnumber the animal welfare groups - only PAWS and PSPCA are members. Where's the democracy in that? Times are changing and so are people's attitudes toward animals. Changes in the composition of the CAW have to be made to allow more animal groups like AKF and CARA (Care and Responsibility for Animals) to speak up for the public. In fact, there should be more members from the public at large rather than from the government. There should only be one or two government agencies to take care of regulatory mechanisms.

- A listener texted that government should give more support to the animal groups and find humane ways to deal with the animals in whatever issue. I agree. Killing animals SHOULD be the LAST RESORT to be done only when there are absolutely no other alternatives. Killing another being, whether human or other, hardens the heart and is plain cruel.

- Luis said the long-term solution to the stray dog problem is ADOPTION, SPAY AND NEUTER and RESPONSIBLE PET OWNERSHIP. To this I would add HUMANE EDUCATION which should be incorporated in the curricula of all public and private schools in the primary and secondary school levels.

- Lastly, I think it's about time that universities offering veterinary programs review their curricula and include courses on animal rights and welfare as well as alternative medicine for the animals. (UP offers a course on acupuncture for animals.) They should study the trends in many universities abroad which NO LONGER practice dissection and vivisection in their laboratories. Alternatives exist now, they should be studied and eventually implemented.

I wrote about the tambucho gassing issue in September last year. Sad to say, an issue which I thought had already been resolved has resurfaced. But it's not too late and the animals need your support. SAY NO TO TAMBUCHO GASSING!

ANIMALSPEAK: GASSING DOGS – ARE WE GOING BACK TO THE NAZI ERA?

By Crysta Imperial Rara

When I told a colleague that the government was gassing stray dogs, she exclaimed: “Gassing…you mean, like the Nazis used to do?”

I fell silent. That thought had never occurred to me. The tambucho gassing of stray dogs has been in the news for some time now. The animal protection groups have launched a campaign to pressure officials to put a stop to it.

The issue has even reached the international scene – more than two thousand five hundred people, including citizens of other countries, have signed a petition addressed to the Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala asking him to rescind Administrative Order 21 (AO21).

AO 21 states that officials should consider “the freedom of animals from physical discomfort and pain and their freedom from fear and distress during the conduct of euthanasia.”

Yet in a subsequent paragraph, AO 21 allows euthanasia in the form of shooting by firearm for dogs, cats, horses, pigs, lizards, snakes, ruminants, non-human primates and marine mammals. Decapitation will be done to euthanize rabbits while birds will be subjected to cervical dislocation.

Another accepted form of euthanasia for stray animals is asphyxiation via carbon monoxide from motor vehicles.

In the petition authored by Ted Teodoro, an animal rights advocate based in New Jersey, a description of the agony experienced by the animals being gassed leaves no doubt about the brutality of the act: “What follows is the frantic clawing of the animal, its plaintive cries for help, its desperate search for a safe corner. The animal rolls and twitches. At some point, the body no longer responds to the animal's natural instincts but some level of consciousness lingers on. This process can take as long as fifteen minutes.”

I watched the video shot by a concerned citizen from Kidapawan in Cotobato Province. The scenes still haunt me – the dogs were struggling to escape from the holding pen, crying out in fear and panic just before they were mercilessly killed. Once the gas was turned on, I couldn’t help but feel furious and helpless as they wailed and clawed to get out of the metal box.

It definitely was no humane death. I wonder if the officials in the Committee on Animal Welfare (CAW), most of whom are veterinarians, really know what the words euthanasia, humane or merciful mean.

They say these methods will help reduce the cost of euthanasia by injection. Putting a dog to sleep by injecting Euthal or sodium pentobarbital costs about two hundred pesos per dosage for medium-sized dogs. But the drug can be acquired at a lower cost if bought by the bulk.

It’s a better way to put down a dog because the drug relaxes him first. So there is no panic and struggle on the part of the animal.

The Philippine Animal Welfare (PAWS) and the Philippine Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PSPCA) voted against AO21 but they were outnumbered.

Perhaps we should take a look at the curriculum in our veterinary schools. Are the graduates taught ethics and kindness toward animals? I’ve had my share of experiences with vets who no doubt love their work and the animals. I’ve run into many who misdiagnose diseases, give the wrong medicines or don’t care about the animal’s comfort or welfare.

But vets who recommend gassing, shooting, decapitation and cervical dislocation are another breed. There’s too much pain in gassing; shooting may be off the mark so the animal will suffer; decapitation is inhumane and cervical dislocation, which means breaking the neck or snapping the spine – is too medieval.

Besides, where’s the humanity in all this? Are we producing vets who know the techniques but have no heart?

The Nazis gassed the Jews. The world condemned it. Our government is gassing and killing the animals inhumanely. We should also all condemn it. Sign the petition and help end the brutal killing of our animals.

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Published in my column, AnimalSpeak, in ANIMAL SCENE magazine Sept 2010

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Ang Mundo ng Kweba

PROTECTING CAVES AND DOLPHINS

By Khrysta Imperial Rara

SUCCESSFUL ANTI-DOLPHIN CAPTIVITY CAMPAIGN

What an interesting day for Kwentuhang Pets atbp! We began the program with a phone patch with Trixie Concepcion of Earth Island Institute Phils. She updated us on the anti-dolphin captivity campaign and said Manila Ocean Park has issued a statement that it will not bring in dolphins for a dolphin show. They must have backed off from their original plan after an aggressive Facebook Campaign led by Earth Island to appeal for the non-inclusion of dolphins in the park. Trixie explained that schools like Miriam and De La Salle have pledged that their students will boycott any dolphin and whale show in the Philippines.

CAVING

An on-air discussion of caves and the need to protect and manage them and the flora and species inside and around them proved to be an eye-opener. I must admit I was never really drawn to caving because I found these places to be too dark and uninteresting. I’ve visited only about 4 caves – in Bicol, Bohol, Bulacan and in Italy. I don’t remember much about them except that in Bicol, I had to rush out of the underground cave because I felt suffocated. I recall seeing the bats hanging upside down in a cave in Bulacan, their droppings or guano forming a huge pile on the cave floor. In Italy, I visited an underwater cave when it was low tide and I was too uncomfortable in the dark.

But our episode last April 14 changed all that. I learned from our guests Anson Tagtag and Ofel Espayos of the DENR Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) that the cave is a world in itself, with a unique ecosystem.

Blind fish, blind shrimps, blind bats, stalagmites and stalactites form part of this world that the DENR would like to protect from hunters. Hunting is illegal in the Philippines, except for the tribes or katutubo. As an animal protection advocate, I don’t like the idea of hunting particularly if it’s for sport.

Guests Anson and Ofel believe that ecotourism could put a stop to the practices that destroy our caves since it will offer an alternative source of income to the local communities. But it must be well managed to ensure that the visitors do not go over the cave’s carrying capacity, or the maximum population of a particular species (in this case, human) that the habitat can support.

The next time I get to visit a cave, it will be from a different perspective. Perhaps this time curiosity and wonder will win over my mild claustrophobia.

bat cave