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This is the second entry in my diary from our recent visit to the Philippines, covering our trip to Baguio City, north of Manila, to explore the final destination of dogs captured for their meat.  

Dubbed by a government official as the ‘dog meat capital of Asia’, Baguio is one of the main destinations for dogs captured to the south of Manila.  We traced the journey of the dog meat traders in order to get there, which involves six hours of crowded roads populated by dilapidated vehicles, motorbikes carrying multiple people in their side cars and breathtaking scenes of paddy fields, water buffalo and roadside videoke bars.  Baguio is a popular holiday resort as it sits high in the mountains and enjoys a more moderate temperature compared to Manila.  As our visit was in monsoon season, we were welcomed by pounding rain as we navigated the winding mountain roads on the approach to the city. 

The objective of our trip to Baguio was to meet with the mayor to discuss the dog meat trade and the existence of dog meat restaurants and markets operating in flagrant violation of the law.
 We woke early so that we could inspect local dog meat restaurants and the market.  Our first stop at a restaurant next to the central bus station was an eye opener; a dog head, a large bowl of  cooked dog paws known as “spare parts’ and organs were openly displayed in the kitchen.

The chef informed us that the head had been blow torched to remove the hair and the teeth brushed to improve the appearance.  As we asked questions and snapped pictures, the owner arrived behind us and the mood immediately intensified as it became apparent that we were not innocent tourists looking for lunch.  We quickly left, passing a man plucking a live chicken. 
We moved on to the market, but despite our early arrival, it turned out that the dog meat traders had already left, likely because they had been alerted to our inspection. The ominously discarded dog meat stand amongst bustling butchers selling everything from whole cow heads to chicken feet was evidence that we had missed our target so we hurried on to the mayor’s office. Because the mayor was ill, we ended up meeting with the vice mayor. Friendly and informed on the dog meat issue, he offered his assistance in tackling the dog meat trade although we were left feeling unconvinced that the issue was anywhere near a top priority for his department.

We departed Baguio and returned south, lost in recollections about what we had seen in the city.  The piles of bones, the brushed teeth on the dog and the blatant disregard of regulations relating to the sale of dog meat symbolized the uphill struggle that we face in trying to end the dog meat trade in the Philippines.  However, being able to follow the dogs’ journey from urban stray to dinner plate delicacy was an important fact-finding mission and provided vital inspiration for our campaign.

This is the first part of a 3-part diary series I wrote about our trip to the Philippines last week.  

The Seizure

We’d barely been in Manila 24 hours and already met with a government task force, a vet and an animal welfare coalition group – all of whom we have either worked with in the past or are trying to forge collaborative plans with to end the dog meat trade in the Philippines.

Our hope for the end of our intense first day was to assist our local team in seizing a jeep transporting dogs to Baguio City to be slaughtered and consumed.  Roughly twice a month, Network for Animals undertakes a seizure operation which involves a complex array of characters and a large degree of patience.  Using information from informants, the team analyses what time a dog meat trader is likely to be collecting the dogs south of Manila and starting the journey north.  The team then position themselves at various points along the main roads and compare number plates against a list of number plates of know dog meat trader vehicles. Once they spot a dog meat trader number plate they give chase and attempt to force the driver off the road before commandeering the jeep, seizing the dogs and arresting the driver.

We emerged from our final meeting into the intense humidity to learn that the team had already captured a dog meat trader several hours earlier than expected and was taking him to the police before bringing the dogs to a shelter run by the SPCA in Manila.  We fought our way through the notorious Manila traffic to meet up with the rescued dogs at the SPCA where the scene that greeted us is one I would wish to forget if I didn’t believe it was so important to remember the sensory overload of what we found there.  The dogs, bound around their mouths and stuffed into crates in the back of a small, hot jeep, stared silently out through slats of wood.  A mixture of stray dogs and well-groomed, clearly stolen pets, huddled together shaking.  They were covered in urine and feces, many of them suffering from malnutrition and a host of  diseases. The stench and the heat in the jeep was overpowering.
Of the 67 dogs that were captured that night, surprisingly only one was dragged dead from the jeep. It remained beside the jeep for the next hour as the team battled to get the rest of the living dogs out before they shared the same fate.  Each dog was lifted from the van, the twine around their muzzle cut free and then taken with a grasper into the shelter.  Most were clearly terrified throughout the entire process, undoubtedly lacking trust and scarred by their experience at the hands of the dog meat traders.  One dog, upon having the twine cut from around its mouth, froze, jerked, spat out some blood and died on the steps of the shelter.   

Alerted by us to the seizure, the media descended.  Journalists snapped pictures of the horrific scene, gathered audio and interviewed our team about the dog meat trade.  We were glad the following day when we heard on the radio and via the internet news about our raid, as public education and dissemination of information relating to the dog meat issue is a key aspect of our campaign.

 

15 April 2011, 30 miles south east of St Anthony, Newfoundland

We wake to foggy weather, but our helicopter pilot says he is willing to see if we can find gaps in the fog in order to get up to St Anthony, an hour and a half’s flight away, where we can refuel before heading offshore to look for sealing boats. The flight is difficult and the pilot has to inch his way along the coastline, but we eventually make it. Refueling takes 30 mins and then we are off again, the helicopter straining under the weight of 500 litres of fuel. We head due east and are over the icy ocean within minutes. Large banks of fog obscure our way forward, but we find a gap and fly further. The cold ocean dotted with bits of ice stretches forever beneath us. Luckily our camera system suspended beneath the helicopter has a massive zoom and the camera operator soon locates a sealing boat on the horizon, which we fly towards. The boat is working its way through the loose ice, the marksman on the cabin shooting every seal pup he can see, staining the ice with their blood. 

A seal pup just ahead of us is shot, but the bullet only wounds him and he starts writhing in pain. He lifts his head and opens his mouth, and while we can’t hear him 1000 feet up in the air in a helicopter, clearly it is a cry of agony. The sealers, who must have heard the cry, show no pity and the boat moves towards him, a sealer leaning over the side brandishing a gaff, a long wooden pole with a sharpened steel hook on the end. The poor seal bites at the gaff, but the sealer hooks him in the side of the face and hauls him aboard, his mouth opening and shutting.
The sealer dumps the pup onto a pile of bloody carcasses on the deck, which is awash in blood and seal body parts. As we are about shift the camera’s focus to another seal on the ice, I see him lift his head and cry again. The sealer grabs him by the flipper and drags him off the pile of carcasses to the other side of the boat; again he lifts his head and cries as the sealer reaches for his club and smashes it into the baby seal’s head again and again. 

The helicopter PA system, normally alive with voices directing the pilot and camera operator, is still for a second as we all try to process the awful scene we have just witnessed. If this is what sealers are doing to seals when they know they are being filmed, one can only imagine what goes on out of sight of our cameras. We continue filming as the marksman shoots more seals, many of whom are only wounded and then gaffed and dragged on board whilst still conscious. All because the sealers are too lazy to jump off the boat onto the ice to make sure the seal is dead before hooking them with the gaff. Yet the Canadian government still has the audacity to call this a well regulated and humane hunt. Notably, there was not one enforcement boat in the area, nor at any time during the three days of filming we did.

With the fog closing in and fuel running low, we turn for St Anthony airport where we refuel before heading for home. Its our last day of filming, but the hunt continues……..

It's 2 a.m., and we've been waiting a good three hours at a petrol station on the side of the North Luzon Expressway, the main highway leading out of metro Manila to the north. An informant has told us that a dog meat trader will be using this route to ship a load of live dogs to a slaughterhouse, but we don't know when he will be making the trip.??We have a large team with us tonight because we are finding that the dog meat traders are becoming more and more aggressive about evading our attempts to capture them—perhaps because of the significantly higher penalties they now face, thanks to our efforts at getting the law upgraded. There is a spotter team about 1km back, ready to warn us if the dog meat vehicle passes them, along with a marked police van to pull the dog meat trader over, a vehicle from the Philippines SPCA and my vehicle to encircle the dog meat truck.

The Chase Is On??
Suddenly, the call comes in from the spotters that the suspect is en route. As we run for our vehicles, we see the dog meat trader's van speeding by us and give chase. Within minutes, we catch up and box him in, the police yelling at the driver to pull over. The driver and his colleague are taken into custody and we open the back door of the van so that the trussed dogs can get a bit of air before we take them to the SPCA compound in Manila to be untied and cared for.
No matter how many times I have seen the awful sight of dogs with their snouts tied shut crammed into a tiny cage, it is still shocking how unnecessarily cruel the dog meat traders are to these poor animals. Not a single thought is given to their welfare, which just strengthens our resolve to see this issue through to the end and have every dog meat trader in the country prosecuted, if that is what it takes. 

Relief, and Sadness?
We transport the dogs to the SPCA as quickly as possible and begin the lengthy job of unloading them one by one, cutting the string from around their snouts and getting them into a kennel. It takes us until 9 a.m. to take care of all 67 dogs seized.??Remarkably, every single dog is still alive, thanks to the cooler weather. Normally, a good 50 percent of any load is dead from asphyxiation or heatstroke. That being said, it is obvious that a lot of the dogs are not going to make it. Already thin and diseased from life on the streets, they just don't have it in them to survive the abuses of the dog meat traders and the journey to the north. Several of them can't even walk, they are so close to death, and have to be carried to their kennel.??One poor dog's tongue has swollen up so badly from his snout being tied that he can no longer get it back into his mouth. It is badly lacerated from his teeth and bleeding profusely. (Unfortunately there was nothing that could be done for him, and he died shortly thereafter).

Jail for Humans; Freedom for Dogs
??Both the driver and his colleague were charged under the Rabies Act and released after paying bail of about £80. If successfully prosecuted, something we will see to, they face at least a year in prison and a fine of approximately £4000. Two major tv stations and two radio stations picked up the story, educating millions of Filipinos on the issue.??Those dogs who survived were sent to live at a sanctuary. Though we are always sad for those who don't make it, we take comfort in the fact that our seizures are very disruptive to the industry and ultimately put dog meat traders in jail.