Closure of animal shelter possible
The animal shelter that was reported to have no accreditation with the Bureau of Animal Industry has not yet complied with the recommendations two months after the grace period provided by the City Health Office.
Dr. Corazon Sepulveda, City Veterinarian's Office (CVO) head, said Happy Animals Club has not applied for Animal Welfare accreditation.
“The shelter said the delay to comply with the animal welfare accreditation is due to the closure order that has not been lifted,” Sepulveda said during the ISpeak Media Forum, March 7.
“They should comply as they are into that business, on our part as City Vet, animal welfare accreditation is what's important to us,” she added.
This was one of the recommendations of the city vet to the animal shelter during their dialogue in October 2023, where Atty. Neil Jao, who represented the shelter pledged to comply with the proposal of the CHO and City Environment and Natural Resources Office.
The official’s proposal to the Bureau of Animal Industry was that the operations of the shelter will be ceased if they fail to comply with the accreditation and follow the recommendation from other agencies.
Sepulveda said every animal rescue center is required to be accredited and secure a permit from the Bureau of Animal Industry for animal shelter operations as stated in Republic Act 10631, amending R.A. 8485, or the Animal Welfare Act of 1998.
“It is the purpose of this Act to protect and promote the welfare of all terrestrial, aquatic and marine animals in the Philippines by supervising and regulating the establishment and operations of all facilities utilized for breeding, maintaining, keeping, treating or training of all animals either as objects of trade or as household pets,” Section 1 of R.A.. 1063 reads.
CHO has provided the shelter two months leeway, from October to December 2023 to resolve odor and nuisance complaints before the closure order from the business bureau is lifted.
The city vet, upon their investigation last year, found that the shelter has a poor drainage system, that animal wastewater spills outside the fence causing the odor which can be detrimental to animals and residents living in the immediate vicinity.
The office also recommended creating backyard biogas for proper manure management, however they received no request for coordination from the shelter.
Happy Animals Club took its disappointment to social media on February 2 over CHO’s zealous search and inspection in the shelter.
“It was frustrating to be inspected yet again by the City Health Office. When they came here they zealously searched for even the slightest violation. No other establishment in Davao City is subject to such rigorous probing and nitpicking,” the post reads.
The management lamented that CHO might have nothing better to do than send officers to inspect the shelter, that the health code of restaurants in the city “must surely be perfect.”
TIMES tried to reach out to the shelter through a text message but as of this writing, the shelter has not responded or issued any statement.