“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” – Mahatma Gandhi.
Life is as dear to a mute creature as it is to man. Just as one wants happiness and fears pain, just as one wants to live and not die, so do other creatures. – His Holiness The Dalai Lama
The question is not, “Can they reason?” nor, “Can they talk?” but rather, “Can they suffer?” – Jeremy Bentham
“Animals are God’s creatures. He surrounds them with his providential care. By their mere existence they bless him and give him glory. Thus men owe them kindness. We should recall the gentleness with which saints like St. Francis of Assisi or St. Philip Neri treated animals. . . . It is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly.” – Catechism of the Catholic Church
The idea that some lives are less valuable than the others must be one of the worst beliefs that most people have.
Every life, no matter how small it is, is revered and valued by every Pagan. But regardless of which religion or faith you have, we should know that people are given the responsibility by God or Goddess or Supreme Power, to take care of the animals, not to abuse and neglect them.
Dogs, in particular, are the epitome of loyalty and unconditional love. It is heart-wrenching to see them being abused, neglected, murdered and tortured.
Our journey to saving dogs from the Lapulapu City Pound started when I saw a post in the Facebook page of Island Rescue Organization about two dogs being trapped in the house by a heartless owner without food or water. One didn’t make it, while the other was saved. We immediately went to the pound to visit “Agua”, the name they had given her. We said hi to Agua and she wagged her tail with all her might.
It didn’t escape from our eyes the six dogs crowded in one cage and another sickly one in a separate cage. I asked the person from the pound if those were also rescued dogs. He replied in a matter of factly manner that they were surrendered dogs by their owners to be terminated using gas chamber in the pound on Friday that week.
We later learned that all dogs surrendered by the owners or stray dogs that were caught by the pound will be terminated every Friday. They were not fed, nor were they given water . We asked why they were doing it, and the people from the pound just answered, ” that is the regulation”.
Are we really that uncivilized and heartless beings to have this kind of regulation?
Saving Agua was not enough, no one should be left behind. From then on, we decided to save the rest of the dogs, to look for loving homes that can provide them warmth and love that they deserve and to treat the sickly ones. We frantically sent messages to all our friends who were interested to adopt or foster the dogs. Some didn’t bother to reply, while others offered help.
Our journey has just started. We transport five to six dogs to their new homes every week, but 12 to 15 dogs are being sent to the pound. We cannot keep up with the number of dogs being impounded. The dogs are in the worst state of health, and not a lot of people want a sickly dog. Aside from this, the people from the pound said that they don’t have budget for the food for the dogs and they can only let them stay in the pound for a maximum of five days. After five days, either we should take the dogs out from the pound or they will kill them using the gas chamber.
We would appreciate any help that you can extend to these poor souls, either through monetary means, offering to visit and feed the dogs in the pound, fostering or adopting them. Any kind of help is welcome.
Ever mind the rule of three, what you give will come back in three-fold.
Written by:
Joene Omega
Independent Dog Rescue Volunteer
PFI Philippines Team Member
To contact Joene & Joey:
Phone Numbers: +639194670365, +639173278415, +639231407027
Email Address: joeneleneomega@gmail.com
Note from the PFI Philippines National Coordinator:
I have known, Joene and Joey (Joene’s twin sister) for 3 years now, they have been recently involved in dog rescues. As described in the article above, they have been moving dogs from the dog pound as an effort to save the dogs from being killed in a gas chamber. I have personally witnessed the efforts of these 2 humble souls who unselfishly offered their precious time and money to save the beautiful souls of these lovely creatures. This is also one of the advocacy works for PFI Philippines that our team envisioned and the Goddess herself manifested it through the independent efforts of Joene and Joey.
A True Pagan would always care for nature and it’s creatures…
Personally as a friend of Joene and Joey, I would like to ease their load by helping them through this simple publicity of their work.
Joene and Joey are planning of setting up a permanent shelter for the dogs and register an NGO to cater to their mission.
About PFI Philippines
Pagan Federation International Philippines is an extension of Pagan Federation International which handles Philippines based activities under its National Coordinator. The PFI Philippines is aimed at networking with pagans in Philippines to execute the mission and vision of Pagan Federation International focusing on advocacy works and to promote the indigenous ethnic religious heritage of the Philippines. Our mission statement is "To defend the rights of pagans". PFI is also active in Intra- and Interfaith work and works closely with other NGO's involved in defending human rights and the right to believe, or not believe. 