Related Celebrities

Homeless but not worthless

Author: Marane Plaza
Column: Life & Entertainment

Thousands of stray dogs and cats roam the metro every day, taking shelter and rummaging for food in dumpsters. Most of them come from irresponsible pet owners who let their dogs breed incessantly or leave them to wander the streets when taking care of them becomes a burden. Of these stray animals, most end up wandering the streets, or in the city impounding areas, or worse, as bait animals for illegal activities such as dog fighting and dog meat mongering.

As the number of stray cats and dogs swell in numbers, one cannot simply turn a blind eye to the horrors these animals face. This brought about a partnership between Nestlé Purina, The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) and SM Supermalls to appeal to the public and to bring to light the sorry plight of these animals deprived of love, care and shelter. Thus, the Homeless, Not Worthless advocacy campaign was born. The campaign was geared at raising funds to support and provide aid to PAWS, to help them in continuing their mission of seeing to the well-being of animals around.

The campaign actually began as a small effort to raise awareness for homeless animals for World Animal Day. But because of the heart-warming support the campaign received from the onset, it has snowballed into something greater and better than expected.

PAWS, a volunteer organization geared toward prevention of animal abuse and promotion of compassionate animal treatment, has been in existence for 50 years and has constructed Paws Animal Rehabilitation Center (PARC) with funding from Meralco and International Fund for Animal Welfare. PARC, which has 36 dogs and 149 cats in residence waiting for adoption, serves as a treatment center for low-cost neutering of dogs and temporary animal shelter for abandoned or rescued animals from the streets and from their abusive owners.

We have been doing this quietly since the formation of PAWS. Lately, we have noticed growing incidence of cruelty to animals and growing number of abandoned pets and felt the need to further raise public awareness and raise funds to support our operations, explains Anna Cabrera of PAWS.

The Homeless, Not Worthless campaign kicked off with a formal turnover ceremony of the GaraPAWS from Nestlé to SM Supermalls at the SM Mall of Asia. Top executives from SM, Nestlé and PAWS were present to deliver speeches on animal rights advocacy, and the advocacy campaign. Celebrity PAWS volunteers and known pet lovers also attended the event. Celebrities include Yasmien Kurdi, Nadine Samonte, Nyoy Violante and a lot more.

Merchandising giant SM, known for its various involvements in charitable institutions under its SM Foundation, has reached out to PAWS. We are advocates of environmental preservation and we uphold all forms of life, states Annie Garcia, president of SMs Shopping Center Management Corp.

The GaraPAWS is actually a donation jar where the public can place their small change. The GaraPAWS, to be placed in strategic locations at participating SM Malls, are small, red plastic canisters where customers can drop coin donations.

For bigger transactions or direct adoption of pets from the PAWS Rehabilitation Center, concerned citizens can text PURINA to 2338 (for Globe subscribers) or 0917-5992338 (for non-Globe subscribers). An automated message will give texters the option to donate cash, or to adopt (Purina DONATE CASH, Purina ADOPT). Each text message costs P2.50, a part of which goes to PAWS. Globe subscribers can readily donate through G-CASH by typing the following: Send amount MPIN to 2882+10 digit mobile number (e.g. 0917-1111111).

Cash donations can be deposited for Philippine Animal Welfare Society to BPI US dollar account no: 3944-0021-61, Philippine peso account no: 3943-0086-11 (SWIFT no: BOPIPHMM) or PNB peso account no: 072-8301740 (SWIFT no: PNBMPHMM). Checks are also accepted and payable to The Philippine Animal Welfare Society, PAWS PARC, Aurora Blvd., Katipunan Valley, Loyola Heights, Quezon City, tel. no. +632-4751688.

Source: Manila Standard Today