FOR its excellent enforcement of prevention and animal care, Cebu City was awarded by the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Animal Industry (DA-BAI) as the best local government unit (LGU) anti-rabies program implementer in the country.
In a phone interview yesterday, City Veterinarian Dr. Alice Utlang, who has been invited by DA-BAI as the honorary guest to receive the award, said she is happy since it has been a while since the City Government was given such recognition.
Pioneer
“Although it’s not only the City that’s been recognized, I’m grateful and delighted because it’s quite rewarding to have the City’s efforts acknowledged. We are the pioneer of animal population control, humane catching and treatment and other areas,” she said in Cebuano.
Utlang recalled how the City used to catch stray animals with wires and how those who were old and sickly were put in gas chambers.
The practice, however, changed when Republic Act 9482 or the Anti-Rabies Act was enacted in 2007.
The City Government then introduced new methods such as using nets to catch the animals and practicing euthanasia through lethal injection, instead of keeping them in gas chambers.
Control
These new practices also helped the City earn the top spot in the province in terms of animal population control.
“This is because we were able to maintain our projects even without the active involvement of the UN (United Nations) Humane Shelter International and Jica (Japan International Cooperation Agency). We are able to continue and strictly enforce our programs,” Utlang said.
Also, the City Veterinarian’s Office has deployed personnel in all 80 barangays in the city to make sure that everyone in the community practices animal-friendly methods.
Those who are posted in the areas are tasked to issue citation tickets to violators of the law.
DA-BAI, through the National Rabies Prevention and Control Committee, is spearheading the celebration of the World Rabies Day on Sept. 28 with the celebration of the animal welfare week.