Animal rights

You may not love animals more than people. You may not even feel the importance of animals in your life. You may not know what the ecosystem is and how maintaining its balance is significant in your continued existence or that of your children and your children's children.

Or you may be well versed with all the arguments and you simply don't care. In which case, you probably won't care that people who do care are being threatened with bodily harm, even death.

How can this be? Over animals?

The Philippine Daily Inquirer reports that members of the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) has received threats in return for their vigilance in protecting the rights of man's best friend. Recently, a dogfight in Antipolo was busted, its organizers and some of the gamblers, including three Thai nationals, hauled off to detention.

The Animal Welfare Act of 1998 (Oh, yes! We have such a thing.) has expressly made it unlawful to subject dogs to dogfights.

SECTION 6: It shall be unlawful for any person to torture any animal, or to neglect to provide adequate care, sustenance or shelter, or maltreat any animal or to subject any dog or horse to dogfights or horsefights, kill or cause or produce to be tortured or deprived of adequate care sustenance or shelter, or maltreat or use the same in research or experiments not expressly authorized by the Committee on Animal Welfare.

The full text of the law can be found here.

This is such a deplorable state of things. The sole purpose of those Thai nationals caught at the dogfight was precisely to participate in the dogfight. A hold-departure order against these three had been applied for by PAWS. Let's hope that it gets issued.