The Jailbreaking Series: ANNA CABRERA as an Animal Welfare Advocate

Jailbreaking ANNA CABRERA as an Animal Welfare Advocate

"Why do you care about animals when there is so much human suffering?"

I have been asked this question many times and so has Anna Cabrera, Executive Director of the Philippine Animal Welfare Society. You have probably seen her many times featured in television shows fighting for animal rights. She has become a constant reminder of how much I can do as a woman. She has recently been voted as one of the finalists for the Advocacy Category of the Female Network Womanity Awards. It’s about time!

This is my first attempt to jailbreak a woman and it is my honor to do so.

Q: What brought you to PAWS? How long have you been with them?

A: 1997. Saw a news article on cats placed in a sack (back in 1997) and, although I've been a cat rescuer, adopter, and my family is a family of animal lovers, this particular piece of news was what prompted me to look for a "campaigning" and "educating" group. I heard of Mrs. Lichauco and her small group called "PAWS". I joined in the meetings held at the dining room of Mrs. Lichauco, where we planned the lobbying for the Animal Welfare Act (first law in animal welfare in Southeast Asia) and the building of a shelter.

Q: You have participated in a lot of animal rescue operations. Which was the most difficult you had to go through? Can you share your takeaway from that experience?

A: Most difficult rescues were the ones we did during Ondoy. There was a particular water rescue where we had to borrow special airboats from private citizens. A subdivision in Laguna was completely submerged in water and the water levels were at the same level as the Laguna de Bay - you didn't know where the Bay ended and the subdivision began! We saw a group of three emaciated dogs perched on floating garbage and debris . The situation was so desperate for the dogs since this had already been more than weeks after Ondoy. They were trapped and had no food.

At one point we had to transfer from one boat to another so that the team with equipment can be on the faster boat, I suddenly realized that  we were in the middle of Laguna de Bay, and I did not know how to swim. If I had fallen in, the rescuers would have had to rescue me! I then realized that we- animal welfare advocates - tend to be shortsighted when it comes to animals.

Seeing those dogs rescued and the sense of fulfillment, the sense of relief taking over my whole body when we finally had them on board the boats cannot be compared to anything in the world. 

Q: PAWS has been very active in pushing long-term solutions to animal welfare issues. This includes educating the next generation. As a mom, how do you ensure you do the same for your own children?

A:  It's true that we educate our kids more by what we do than what we say. I must admit that my daughter Joanna learned a lot by just watching me even if I wasn't "lecturing" at home. We had rescued cats and she participates in taking care of them. I also read a lot of bedtime stories to her like "ANG ITIM NA KUTING" (The Black Kitten) ni Natasha Vizcarra, "Cat Heaven" and "Mutt Dog". Joanna's first word was "cat", by the way.

Q: Who is your favorite shelter animal? Why?

A: Now, this is a controversial question! Moms don't want to admit that they have 'favorites' among their kids -- and it's the same with me.

But I have always showered the office cats, "Horace" and "Fleur" with special attention. Volunteers know that I have a special 'song' for each of them.

Among the dogs, Santino, Monty and Lauren have a particular 'puppy dog' look of adoration in their eyes  that I can't help but feel more desperate to have them adopted out  

Q: Do you have pets of your own? Can you share few details about them?

A: Five cats

1.Feedo -fostered/bottlefed as a week-old kitten

2. Dolphy- fostered /bottlefed as a week-old kitten

3. Bulag (want to rename him Stevie but the name "Bulag" really stuck)-found dying in the streets. He has an odd-shaped face and odd body structure, and blind of course..I think he was born with thse defects that's why he was thrown out

4. Stuart -rescued by a nun before turning over to me; epileptic

5. Mickey - fostered /bottlefed as a week-old kitten

 

One recently passed away, Domeng - an orange tabby and white cat - who was 9 years old. domeng was also rescued. We got him from Domingo Santiago Street - which is where I lived when I was still single.

 

Four outdoor cats: They are strays that I feed (but I had them all TNRd [Trap-Neuter-Return] ) - I don't want to give them names because I don't want to be attached.

Q: You have constantly mentioned how awkward you feel sometimes about getting all the exposure on behalf of all the PAWS volunteers. Could you give us a picture of all their hard work? Can you let us see and understand them through your eyes?

A: I have a long list.

1. Tata - our President- who started it all and continues to inspire us with her daily text reminders and pieces of advice.

2. Daily volunteers who clean,  medicate and

socialize the dogs in the shelter.

3. Our shelter director Heidi is hardly ever seen on TV or newspapers but she has made systems more efficient at PARC- she can fix anything from broken pipes to generating forms and systems that will make work and processes easier, and help prevent spread of disease.

4. Rich, our fundraising events director is always behind the director's booth at events but he is the brains and the hearts of PAWS events and celebrity campaigns.

5. Cha, Doc Wil, Doc Maripi and John make up the "unbeatable four" in terms of shelter work efficiency and rehabilitating animals.

6. Daisy, Therese and May are our combined inspectorate (checks on cruelty cases) and rescue team. All are volunteers.

7. Elsie and Joe help rehab our dogs in terms of behavior

8. Atty Kayaban helps prosecute legal cases.

(I may have missed someone)

 

  ... PAWS is so very lucky to have a group of dedicated and talented people. I don't think I would have been nominated in the first place if not for the product of all the hard work of these people.

 

Q: You have traveled to other countries for animal welfare events. How are we doing in this area as a country so far?

 A: Each country has its own animal welfare problems. When I went to Auckland (New Zealand) , US and United Kingdom, welfare and animal care standards were understandably more advanced and these countries were dealing more with welfare issues on farm animals and - in the case of UK - greyhound racing.

In India, they had better dog shelters but not a good shelter for cats. In Egypt, animal welfare advocates are having a hard time adopting out dogs because of religious issues so they ended up keeping dogs for life in no-kill sanctuaries.  

The Philippines is a country that is receptive to animal welfare ideas. We just need enough info in media and in academics to tell us that dog-eating is not a tradition and that dogs deserve to live in homes- that it isn't correct to think that having a dog as part-owned and part-askal (dog made to roam the streets) is okay. That is why we renamed the 'askal' to 'aspin' -- to show the stark difference between irresponsible and responsible pet ownership. We at PAWS have always maintained that "walang asong gala, kung walang taong pabaya" (there will be no stray dogs if there are no irresponsible humans). Street dogs or ‘askals’ did not materialize out of thin air. They used to have owners, they were released into the streets because people didn't want to be fully responsible for any one of these things: picking up poop/cleaning up after their pets, having their pets treated/feeding their pets.  There's also ambivalence about neuter-spay because we tend to have negative opinions about birth control, as a Catholic nation. Once we get it straight that dog-eating isn't a tradition that dogs should be kept within our yards and that pets (dogs and cats) must be spayed and neutered, animal welfare in our country will take a huge leap forward.

Q:  Your job in PAWS can be so demanding. Do you have other jobs aside from this? What do you do to, as they say, keep your sanity?

 

A: I watch a lot of TV series - mostly "Criminal Minds" and "CSI”. I love watching movies - mostly suspense, thriller and action movies

Q: Was there ever a point in your PAWS fights that you almost gave up? Why or why not? What made you stay?

A: Yes. Animal welfare work is not spared from intrigues and, just like any other sector, is replete also with people who will malign you and try to put you in a negative light. Add this to the fact that the organization is constantly besieged with expenses that it can hardly cope up with; there really were times when I thought we would just close down the shelter.

However, the campaigning for animal protection - I've never thought of stopping that -as long as I can speak and write - I think it has already been built into my system since I was small: I will always campaign against animal cruelty.  Whether or not I am in PAWS.

Q: The fight is not over. In fact, it may take a while. What is the one thing that you want to tell this country about animal welfare?

A:  Animal welfare is not just about animals. It is connected to human welfare. Humans are dependent on animals for so many things: livelihood, health, companionship. We need to veer away from the thinking that it is about animals vs. humans. We get questions like "Why do you care about animals when there is so much human suffering?" Why can we not be kind to both animals and humans? What is stopping us from caring about animals and humans? Environmental awareness has shown us that what we do to the environment, we do to ourselves. Animals are a part of that fragile web of life. We must never forget this and we must speak up for them.

 - E N D -

Having pets of my own and experiencing how hard it is to take care of them, I was deeply encouraged by one of the emails Anna has sent me. It spoke of what her father has told her when she was small. He said,

 "Since the animals cannot repay you (financially or in terms of human favors), the way you treat animals is the highest indicator of how much you are willing to give without expecting anything in return."

Could it be that our hope to turn this nation to have an animal-caring culture depends on the parents of today? Is it enough for parents to teach their children not to hurt animals? NO. This is a subtle way of teaching them indifference. If a parent teaches a child to be kind to his/her playmates but ignores a hungry dog or a cat, what message does it bring? If a parent brings a child to church every Sunday but kicks a dog or a cat on the streets, which image will stick more? I have always said that I will never ever believe a man who talks God but kicks a dog or a cat when he thinks no one is looking.

Indifference is a silent form of cruelty. The fight isn't over and there's still time. We can still care to care.

To vote for Anna Cabrera, please follow this link - http://www.femalenetwork.com/news-features/female-network-womanity-awards-finalists-for-advocacy

All photos from Anna Cabrera. I appreciate the time you have put into this despite your busy schedule. You rock!