Pet responsibility

There are concerns regarding coronavirus vis-à-vis the risk of animals spreading Covid-19 to people. Medical experts say that pet owners should not worry about contracting the virus from their pets or other animals. It is much more likely that an owner could potentially transmit it to their pets.

The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that “some coronavirus that infect animals can sometimes be spread to humans and then spread between people, but this is low.”

“At this time, there is no evidence that animals play a significant role in spreading the virus.”

Given the above information, pet owners should then focus on the following: The Animal Welfare Act (Republic Act 8485) and Anti-Rabies Act (RA 9482).

There are a number of cases that have been reported in the barangay level concerning the presence of stray dogs in subdivisions. Compounding the problem are dogs allowed to roam around without a leash.

Consider the following a refresher course to errant pet owners who think that they can have as many dogs and ignore existing laws.

Section 5: Responsibilities of pet owners. Under the law, pet owners are to maintain control over their dog and not allow to roam the streets or any public place without a leash.

Section 7: Responsibilities of the Local Government Units. LGUs must ensure that all dogs are properly immunized, registered and issued a corresponding dog tag for every immunized and registered dog.

Section 9: Unregistered, stray or unvaccinated dogs shall be impounded and kept in the LGUs designated dog pound.

Section 11: Pet owners who refuse to put leash on their dogs when they are brought outside the house shall be meted a fine of P500 for each incident. Pet owners who fail or refuse to have their dog registered and immunized against rabies shall be punished by a fine of P2,000.

Another irritant concerning dogs falls on the issue of private nuisance. It is considered a private nuisance if it is interfering with the comfort, convenience of health of an occupant like foul odors, noxious gas, smoke, dust, loud noise (excessive barking of dogs in a residential area), excess light or high temperature. Moreover, a nuisance may also disturb an occupant’s mental tranquility such as a neighbor who keeps a vicious dog even an injury is only threatened and has not actually occurred. It is public nuisance if it endangers the health and safety of others.