“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.

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Above is our story when we started our journey in animal rescue in 2012. My sister, Joey, and I together with Dan co-founded an Mayari Animal Rescue Organization the same year. Fast-forward to now, nothing has changed in our local pound except that the city vet prohibits taking pictures or videos inside the facility.

We are asking everyone to join hands with us to appeal to the mayor, Junard Ahong Chan, to make changes in the pound. We met up with the vice mayor and even to the mayor's daughter, but no actions have been taken so far. 

Please be the voice of our animals. We are their only hope. Show  your support by signing the petition and sharing this petition to your family and friends.

You may also check the video that we created, the last time we were able to take pictures and videos inside the pound.

https://www.facebook.com/Moondancers.Omega23/videos/488556171219057/?mibextid=6979jI

The pictures below are the dogs that we rescued in 2012.

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Joene Omega
Mayari Animal Rescue Organization, Inc.
Contact Information:
https://www.facebook.com/joeneomega
Text me at +639982066982
Please contact me only when it's about this petition