It was Easter Sunday. After attending mass at the Cathedral, I went to have breakfast in a diner across the City Hall. I occupied a table next to a large glass window that provided a wide panoramic view of activities taking place on the road — buses unloading passengers, families passing by on motorcycles, and in one particular instance, I actually saw a woman on a motorbike, propping up a young child between her and the driver to shield herself from the glaring sun!
While partaking of crispy danggit, scrambled eggs, rice and a pot of tea, a white Pekinese sauntered by, looked at me, and slowly pooped right there and then.
One does not have to be consciously observant to note the large number of stray dogs in our University Town. An article in the Visayan Daily Star had reported the existence of an estimated 97,000 dogs in the province of Negros Oriental and 10,000 in Dumaguete City. And that in 2009, Provincial Veterinarian Antonio Mutia revealed that 3,500 dogs were “put to sleep” through euthanasia because they were left to stray by their owners.
To euthanize dogs means to “humanely” put them to death by injection, placing them in gas chamber-like rooms, and as laws allow, shooting them with guns “as dogs are extremely difficult to handle”, so goes the report.
Task Force SAGARR (Special Action Group Advocating Rapid Reform), “promises practical solutions to issues that have occasionally tainted the image of the City of Gentle People,” Task Force Ground Commander and City Administrator William Ablong had said.
The task force is composed of 11 teams, each assigned to handle the enforcement of ordinances, one of which pertains to stray dogs.
The MetroPost (April 3) bannered a report that Task Force SAGARR “is now fully operational…with the blessing of a mobile truck and the induction of 11 team leaders during the flag rising ceremony held March 28…” The report further said that despite fund shortage, Mayor Chiquiting Sagarbarria managed to purchase one mobile truck to be used as roving vehicle in the operations by any of the respective teams.
Ablong also said that the task force “should first concentrate in checking and evaluating all boarding houses in the City…business establishments operating without business permits…and other ordinances that promote order and safety measures…and in keeping peace and harmony in the City”.
No specific indication was made for stray dogs. This must be the reason why that dog last Easter Sunday happily trotted along his way after momentarily interrupting my breakfast.
Dr. Mutia reports that rabies still remains a big problem in Negros Oriental where vaccination campaign achievement in the 25 cities and municipalities was only 49 percent in 2009, indicating that in many localities, the anti-rabies campaign is not a priority. He also said that aside from giving priority to this campaign, political will is necessary. Bayawan (which seems to be always setting an example of good governance) has a zero rabies case for the past four years.
And here’s an interesting item posted recently in the Internet regarding seven proposed ordinances being deliberated at the committee levels of the City Council: the purchase of a 22 caliber rifle with silencer for P27,000 for the use of the City Veterinarian to shoot at stray dogs and other dogs with rabies.
Every morning when I do my walking exercise, I see several stray dogs roaming around freely, and I think it will take more than Task Force SAGARR or a gun-totting city veterinarian to solve this problem. It will need the cooperation of the people in the community.
This early, the Student Government of Foundation University is planning to rid at least the area of Dr. Miciano Road of stray dogs and create a community that enthusiastically supports the implementation of various ordinances (those pertaining to boarding houses, eateries, traffic management, solid waste management) aimed at improving the lives of students and other Dumaguete residents.
What Task Force SAGARR proposes to accomplish are formidable challenges that will only be achieved with the full support of the people in the University Town. As a starting point in its campaign, it might be wise for SAGARR to tap the student councils in the various schools as their working partners.
Young people working with government is more in consonance with the reputation of a “City of Gentle People” than a veterinarian carrying around a 22-caliber rifle, never mind if it has a silencer, shooting down stray dogs.
