TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, December 3, (PIA) –Over the alleged dog shooting in Sikatuna in late October, that got reported on national television, authorities insisted that it was a stray dog.
And citing paragraph c of Provincial Ordinance 2007-002, authorities said the owners responsibility includes maintaining control of their dogs and not allowing them to roam the streets or any public place without a leash.
It may be recalled that news which came out on national television late October focused on a complaint of a dog owner.
It dealt on a family dog which was shot by town rabies program authorities, during a stray dog elimination drive, in consonance with the provincial drive to keep Bohol rabies-free, by instilling responsible pet ownership by vaccination, dog population control by spaying or neutering and keeping them off the streets as menace to pedestrians and motorists.
The shooter however missed hitting the fatal point of the moving target, that the dog escaped, returned home and expired several hours later.
Consequent investigation by the OPV task Force sent for a fact finding mission revealed that the shot dog was not a registered and thus unvaccinated dog, which a teacher and the family claimed as their own.
“It would be hard for them to establish ownership,” task force members said.
“Besides, if they would insist on claiming the dog, they could be meted out with the penalties for failing to register and vaccinate their dog, submit the canine for mandatory vaccination and provide their dog with adequate food and shelter,” he continued, during an interview.
“The owner is negligent in taking care of the dog,” the fact finding report stated.
In the first place, there would have been no shooting had the owner complied with the law, it said.
LGU Sikatuna is not remiss in the general conduct of the rabies program for they have exhaustively conducted information dissemination about the program and the ordinance during ABC meetings and barangay assemblies, Provincial Veterinarian and Bohol Rabies Prevention and Elimination Program Action Officer Dr. Stella Marie Lapiz said.
Had the owner complied with the law, that particular dog would not have been considered threat to the general public and it would not have been subjected to field control through euthanasia specifically with the use of physical methods like the use of a specified fire-arm, the report stated.
Department of Agriculture Administrative Order 13 s., 2010 provide that using a fire-arm not lesser than 22 caliber and used by a sharpshooter police or army member will do. (RAC/PIABohol)
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