By TARA YAP
ILOILO City — Due to public backlash, Mayor Jerry Treñas will not allow the plan of Iloilo City Veterinary Office to conduct mercy killing of stray dogs.
“This has not yet approved by my office,” said Treñas in a publicly released video.
News broke out late last week that Dr. Tomas Forteza, city veterinarian, announced how the latest stray dogs impounded will undergo euthanasia.
This led residents to campaign on social networking site Facebook and urged the Iloilo City government to change its policy.
There’s an online petition by Mikaela Chavez while Team Aspin of Iloilo-Tail wrote an open letter to the mayor.
“The stray dogs, who cannot speak for themselves, are suffering everyday on the streets either by hunger, maltreatment or abuse. These dogs deserve better lives,” said Chavez in an online petition via change.org.
Forteza earlier said they rounded up stray dogs after another office complained how dogs were destroying the ornamental plants of the Esplanade, the city’s river park.
“Dogs are not destructive, but humans are. Dogs are sentient beings, and given a chance, have proven countless times to be man’s best friend,” Team Aspin of Iloilo-Tail said in a letter Treñas.
Photographer Al Destacamento also slammed Forteza for forgetting the Hippocratic Oath by pushing euthanasia instead of giving residents the option to adopt.
Forteza earlier claimed the city government does not have enough space to keep the dogs, no budget to feed them, and there’s a big risk of human getting rabies.
“And we can’t just let anybody adopt the dogs because many people who come to adopt want cute-looking dogs. These are not cute-looking dogs. Also, some of them will just give up the dogs only a week after adopting,” Forteza said in an interview.
Meanwhile, the Treñas administration is working with the private sector. Some restaurants have pledged to give food scraps that can help feed the stray dogs.
