A COUPLE from Cebu City is facing trial in court for allegedly neglecting their pet dogs that bit a 10-year-old boy in 2016.
The boy was fetching water when the couple’s dogs attacked him and bit his right forearm and thigh.
“The accused, with apparent neglect, did fail to maintain control over their dogs by allowing them to roam the streets or any public place without a leash,” Prosecutor Van Russell Inopiquez said in the charge sheet.
The couple, Emmanuel Emnace and his wife, Marissa, were charged with violation of Republic Act 9482, or the Animal Welfare Act of 1998.
Sec. 6 of the Animal Welfare Act states that it is unlawful for any person to neglect to provide adequate care, sustenance, shelter or maltreat any animal.
If found guilty, the couple could be fined up to P10,000 for their refusal to place their dogs under observation after the dog bit the boy.
The boy’s parents, Teresito and Elizabeth Demol, of Visitacion St. in Barangay Sambag II, Cebu City, filed the complaint against the Emnaces.
They said they spent about P50,000 for their son’s treatment.
Prior to the attack on their son, the Demol couple said they reminded the respondents to put their dogs in a leash.
The respondents denied that they allowed their dogs to roam the streets unattended. They said that a friend looked after their pets when they attended a party last May 15.
They also said that they kept the dogs in a leash and that they closed the gate of their house. But when they got home, they were surprised to learn that their dogs bit the child.