A city with a heart of gold for stray dogs

Marikina City has a heart of gold for stray dogs.  Recently, the 8th City Council considered the passage of an ordinance encouraging its residents to report the presence of stray dogs to the responsible city office or authorities. This may be done with photographs submitted through the internet.

Undeniably there are some dog owners who are inconsiderate. They display an arrogant disrespect for law and lack of concern for a healthy environment by letting (intentionally or negligently) their dogs stray in public places. Stray dogs, especially those that freely roam around public places, needless to say, pose imminent danger to the safety and health of people, and records show that these animals have attacked passersby and bystanders as they scour garbage piles and bins or bags for food.

The ordinance, authored by Councilor Serafin Bernardino, urges city residents to take pictures of stray dogs and report them by sending the photos to a website to be designed (by the Management Information System and the Call Center of  Marikina City) for the purpose.

Here are some of the guidelines on how to photograph stray dogs and submit the pictures for reporting purposes:

• Only stray dogs are to be in the picture (no need for the owner). A camera or any picture-taking device may be used for this;
• The sender of such photos should give the city government, free of charge, the exclusive right to use them in any way it sees fit;
• Upon submission of the photographs to the city government, the latter becomes the sole owner of these pictures and their copyright;
• The pictures may also have a digital imprint of the time and date they were taken;
• When submitting the photographs, the sender may or may not identify him/herself or include his/her cell phone or contact number;
• The sender shall identify the exact location, like the street and barangay, where the pictures of the stray dogs were taken;
• Upon receipt of the photos, the task force shall search the neighborhood cited and, thereafter, identify the owner of the stray dogs and tell him/her about the infraction. Depending on the frequency of the violation, the dog owner may be warned or issued a citation ticket.

Now if you later see Marikeños around the city training their cell phones at a specific place, it is either they are engaged in the newest virtual game Pokemon Go or they are busy taking a picture of a stray dog.

—REGINALD B. TAMAYO, Marikina City