Mindanao Times Writer still unmoved despite Animal Cruelty declaration

You know how these old people bear a firm ground to stand on. Their pride goes way up as their age is a vivid evidence of their wisdom. I do not believe such wisdom exists for Loreto D. Tinitigan, an Opinion-writer for the Mindanao Times.

On March 21, 2011, Mr. Tinitigan told the whole world on print and internet media how he was bitten by his very own dog right on the buttocks and endured 25 injections to save himself from rabies. He then wrote that he gave his dog to his drinking friend for meat.

Here's the link to that article: (link)

Yes, meat. Dog meat for human consumption. With this declaration, he practically stirred the world. Congratulations, Mr. Tinitigan! Now everyone is watching for your next say on this. Unfortunately, the Editor-in-Chief can only print a couple of grievance letters after that (link) (link) while the old man continues to write like nothing happened.

A public apology would be nice but it's not enough to undo what he had done. Animal Welfare Act prohibits the killing of dogs by anyone unless by that of a registered veterinarian (link). It is also stated there that it is mandatory to update dog's anti-rabies vaccination every year. This vaccination is given free by the Department of Agriculture Bureau of Animal Industry.

Now pet lovers, owners, dog clubs and other local groups are in fury. Animal Welfare Coalition (link) had expressed its disgust over the said column. Active buyers and sellers on Pet section of Tipidsale.com (formerly known as DavaoSale.com) who happens to be dog lovers, owners, breeders, and members of active dog clubs in Davao City are not impressed of this writer's declaration (link). Founder of the Dachshund Club of Davao (and also a friend of mine Jezyrel Villaruz) raised awareness to this issue as her scanned image of the actual newspaper column on FaceBook gathered a lot of her dog-enthusiast friends and expressed their dislikes with a passion (link).

A non-profit organization WeDogs (link) conveyed their utter unsatisfactory of the same article. Even our furry pals from Philippine Pet Finder did not love this article (link).

But did this writer say anything? Oh no, why would he? He had already written what he wanted to say. All the people in the editorial staff are just collecting feedback and now they've only published a couple out of countless reactions to the issue.

As what Gandhi likes to tell us: "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." So far, we are far from it.