‘Cat killer’ gets second chance at animal home

Once branded a “cat killer” by animal lovers, Joseph Carlo Candare is slowly trying to reform his image—with a little help from the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS).

On his first day of volunteering for the animal rights group, the Physics major from the University of the Philippines (UP) “looked lost,” shuffling his feet and lowering his head to avoid people’s stares.

“I recall him speaking in a very soft voice and I had to ask him to repeat what he said; that he didn’t know how to handle cats,” said Anna Hashim-Cabrera of PAWS told the Inquirer in a recent interview.

The volunteer work was part of an agreement Candare’s lawyer worked out with a Quezon City court after his client was convicted for animal cruelty for stomping on a stray cat, which died of its injuries.

The UP student went on to write about what he did in his blog in 2009, incurring the ire of animal lovers and prompting PAWS to file a case against him.

As punishment, Judge Catherine Manodon of the Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 49 fined him P2,000 and ordered him to render volunteer work in an animal shelter for two months.

At PAWS, which is home to 255 cats and 53 dogs, Candare’s duties include cleaning litter boxes and mopping the shelter’s floors under the watchful eye of his supervisor, Charlene Laxamana.

Cabrera and Laxamana said they were hopeful that the UP student’s experience at PAWS would help change his attitude toward animals.

“At the very least, we want him to have a basic respect for animals. We don’t expect him to adopt a cat or anything like that,” Laxamana said.

At first, Candare went to the shelter once a week for the first two months following his conviction in May. But right now, he shows up only once or twice a month, according to Cabrera.

“Perhaps he is busy with school work,” she said.

Recalling Candare’s first day of volunteering at PAWS, Cabrera said they introduced him to the cats, telling him their names as well as how they came to be at the shelter.

She added that she also guided him the first time he touched one of the cats assigned to his care.

Candare stroked the animal’s back and when he reached out to touch the cat’s face, the feline licked his hand, Cabrera recalled.

“I told him, ‘See, she likes you’ but maybe because I don’t know him that well, he looked very withdrawn,” she said.

Meanwhile, other PAWS volunteers were told not to say anything about his case or be rude to him so that he would not feel uncomfortable at the shelter.

Later on, Candare began asking questions about his “wards,” a sign that he was interested in them, Laxamana said.

“Sometimes he would ask, ‘So this one, where did he come from?’ He wanted to know the history of the cats,” she told the Inquirer.

Once, when their conversation turned to animal cruelty cases, Laxamana said she couldn’t help but ask him about his case.

Judging by his reply, she said she was of the impression that his actions were motivated by his desire for attention.

Just like other volunteers

“But you know, if I didn’t know that he had a case before involving animal cruelty, I would say he’s just like any other volunteer here,” Laxamana added.

Asked to assess their newest volunteer, both Cabrera and Laxamana said that it was still too early to tell if Candare had undergone a change of heart due to his volunteer work at PAWS.

Based on their estimate, the UP student has only rendered about 40 percent of the two months’ worth of volunteer work required of him by the court.

“But [from] what we have seen so far, we are always hopeful,” Cabrera said, adding: “We hope he would come more often though.”

And just like the animals who were abandoned or rescued but found a new home at PAWS, Candare’s volunteer work can be likened to being given a second chance—perhaps, a chance to reform, Cabrera noted.

Laxamana said that there are other people like Candare who do not like cats although they do not harm them.

For her, the rules are simple: If the animal does not hurt you, don’t hurt it at all.

“He’s seen the consequences of his actions. He doesn’t need the public to remind him of what will happen if he does it again,” she said, referring to Candare.