3 held, charged with slay of dogs

TACLOBAN CITY—Police detained three persons, including a minor, for several hours and charged them with violating a law against cruelty to animals after they killed two dogs by tying them to a motorcycle and dragging them until the dogs died.

Arrested were Dionito Roa, 38, Roger Iglesias, 19, and Iglesias’ 16-year-old cousin, all residents of Barangay 31, Pampango district here.

Senior Insp. Quintin Mazo Jr., chief of the Tacloban police substation 2, said on Thursday that police caught the three dragging two dogs tied to the motorcycle they were riding.

The suspects looped a wire around the necks of the two dogs and then tied the wire to the motorcycle so the dogs could be dragged behind as they were driving around the city streets, Mazo said. The animals eventually died due to injuries.

The incident took place on Magsaysay Boulevard at around 2 a.m. Wednesday.

The three, who were detained at the Tacloban police substation 2 jail, were charged with violating the Animal Welfare Act but they were released 9 a.m. Thursday. No one came to claim ownership of the dogs, however.