Friend,
I’m one of the undercover investigators working for the Animal Welfare Investigations Project. My job is to manage a network of local informants — brave people who quietly risk their safety to tell us where dogs are being killed for meat.
They are the unseen heroes behind every rescue, every raid, every arrest.
And over Christmas, the killing has not stopped.
In fact, it’s intensifying.
While most people are resting, our phones have been ringing nonstop. New locations. New slaughterhouses. More dogs stolen from the streets and butchered behind closed doors.
Our Chief Executive has been clear with us: we do not rest while dogs are being killed. Christmas or not. New Year or not. If the trade is operating, we act.
Right now, we’ve identified a new home-grown slaughterhouse — hidden in a narrow alley with only one way in and one way out. Even our undercover informants are afraid to enter.
Inside, one to two stray or stolen dogs are brutally butchered, barbecued, and sold every single day to two small eateries nearby.
Their heads are sold for soup.
Their internal organs are cooked and sold separately.
Their flesh is sold by the pound.
Even though this is considered a “small” operation, it still means around 730 dogs are slaughtered every year in this one location alone.
Before we move forward with enforcement action, we need to show authorities that the world is watching and demanding immediate action.
Here’s the wider context and why this moment is so critical.
The dog meat trade was made illegal in the Philippines back in 1998. The law has existed for decades. But for years, it simply wasn’t enforced.
Many organisations tried to end the trade, Friend. The reality is that it continued to flourish... until we arrived.
We are relentless. We work side by side with local and national law enforcement. We gather intelligence, build evidence, apply pressure, and push for arrests — again and again.
Last year alone, we carried out more operations against the dog meat trade than any other organisation in the Philippines.
Back in 2009, the UK government estimated that 500,000 dogs were slaughtered every year for their meat in the Philippines. For a long time, that number barely changed.
Now, for the first time, the trade is struggling.
Not because the law changed, Friend, but because it’s finally being enforced.
Your voice helps us raid the next slaughterhouse, push for arrests, and protect the next dog before it's too late.
Thank you for standing with us, Friend, especially at this time of year.
For all animals,
Undercover Investigator
Animal Welfare Investigations Project