Animal lovers in the Philippines worked hard to persuade the Filipino government to bring in laws on behalf of dogs and cats, especially animals in the dog and cat meat trade. The government stopped short of banning the trade, but covered areas such as transportation, deprivation of food and water, and so on.

The laws were soon flaunted and became nothing more than a paper tiger as the illegal pet meat trade continued to flourish. With increasing attention being brought upon the Filipino government, they eventually responded by imposing heavier fines and longer jail sentences of between 6 – 12 years imprisonment for people caught breaking animal cruelty laws.

A year ago the Filipino Meat Inspection Service announced that dogs and cats and other pets are NOT FOOD ANIMALS in the Philippines. Fight Dog Meat congratulates the Philippines for having laws, but calls for the government to either implement and enforce the tightened laws or ban the trade completely.

An area which Fight Dog Meat will be looking into is the loophole for indigenous ritual slaughter of dogs and cats in the Philippines, for human consumption. Using the banner of “ritual slaughter” ensures that the Filipino dog meat trade is still operating by those abusing the loophole.

Enforcing laws is made difficult because many government officials and police officers personally endorse eating of dog meat and are willing to turn a blind eye to the rort (dishonest act.) The laws may be pseudo but the cruelty is not.

The Philippines has a sordid history of extreme cruelty to dogs in the dog meat trade.The photograph I’ve used is a number of years old, but it was taken in the Philippines and accurately shows the treatment of Filipino dog meat dogs.

As shown in the photograph, the dogs’ front legs are wrenched backward and tied up high on their spine (completely unnatural for a dog) and their hind legs bound tight, plus their mouth is bound tightly shut. A signature tin can is then jammed on their snout, rendering the dogs unable to pant to cool their core body temperature down, as they panic in terror and suffocation in the humid tropical heat.

Hog tied and bound, the dogs are then piled on top of each other in dark bamboo cages, or over crammed into the back of one-ton trucks. A documented 80% of dogs die of suffocation BEFORE ARRIVING AT THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE!

Please view the following video of the Filipino dog meat trade, filmed in 2013.

The Filipino dog meat trade has got nothing to do with cultural traditions. It is animal cruelty and a complete disrespect for animals in every way. Fight Dog Meat thank Filipino animal lovers who have taken a courageous stand against the dog meat trade in their country, and we will support you in every way we can.

Thank you for reading,

Michele Brown
Founder.