Cebu City gov’t sues shelter owners, caretakers for neglect of 100 dogs

RESCUED In this photo taken in May, these dogs, many of them sick and starving, are found cramped in cages at an abandoned animal shelter in Barangay Adlaon, Cebu City, during an inspection by a team from the city veterinary office. —NESTLE SEMILLA

CEBU CITY—The city government has filed a criminal complaint against the owners and caretakers of an illegal dog shelter after they abandoned around 100 starving and sick dogs in a property in Barangay Adlaon here in violation of the Animal Welfare Act.

City veterinarian Jessica Maribojoc, who represents the city in the case, requested the Cebu City prosecutor’s office to investigate shelter owner Lorna Oberes, her partner Edwin Casas and unidentified caretakers for failing to provide adequate care to the animals.

Inspection

The complaint was filed by the city’s Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries (DVMF) on July 5 but copies of the complaint were released to local reporters only on Wednesday.

Maribojoc, in a sworn judicial affidavit, said DVMF personnel conducted animal health services in Adlaon village on May 15 and learned that Oberes supposedly abandoned the dogs in her house.

During the initial inspection, the DVMF team discovered around 100 malnourished dogs kept in cages in the 100-square-meter property, which has no government permit to operate as an animal shelter.

Maribojoc said they received reports that some of the neglected dogs had escaped from the shelter, and attacked or killed other animals, among these turkeys and sheep, kept by other residents in the neighborhood.

Oberes earlier explained to authorities that her partner, Casas, promised her that he would provide financial assistance for the dogs’ upkeep.

She initially had 30 dogs under her care but the pack grew as the animals were not spayed or neutered.

In February, Oberes said she left the house in Adlaon after a spat with her partner. She said she did not monitor the dogs left with her caretakers, who later abandoned the shelter.

The respondents were charged with violating Sections 16 and 17 of City Ordinance No. 2526 which sanctions people who harm animals, and Section 6 of Republic Act No. 8485 or the Animal Welfare Act of 1998.

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