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| Philippines Animal Welfare Coalition |
Dave Pauli demonstrates his humane animal
handling techniques in the Philippines. |
By Julie Hauserman
Dave Pauli is a master of what he calls the “low-slow-soft” approach to catching feral dogs. As he tells it: “I do very few things well, but one of the few things I do well is catch critters.”
It’s a skill he shared with several hundred veterinarians, animal control officers and animal welfare workers in the Philippines, a country that has had an explosion of deadly rabies cases, killing an average of 350 people a year.
Pauli, who is The HSUS' Northern Rockies regional director, joined a team from Humane Society International on a trip to the island nation April 26 through May 16. HSI partnered with the Philippines' Animal Welfare Coalition, the Department of Agriculture and the Veterinary Medical Association.
Their goal: to help the country use humane practices to control the feral dog population and vaccinate the animals against rabies. The Filipino government recently passed the Anti-Rabies Act of 2007 to encourage pet owners to license their animals and have them spayed or neutered. It also requires local governments to impound all stray animals and vaccinate them against rabies. The government has set a goal of eliminating rabies by 2020.
Barry Kellogg, a senior veterinary advisor for HSI, taught volume spay and neuter techniques and disaster preparedness. Pauli helped with the disaster training and led a session on humane ways to handle stray animals.
Some Filipino animal control officers were using painful wire “control poles” to snare dogs around their necks and hoist them off the ground.
“It is tough on the dogs,” Pauli said. “It teaches the dog to be more aggressive to the next person who handles him.”
While dozens of students watched, Pauli caught several snapping and aggressive feral dogs by approaching them gently—low, slow and soft. He crouches or kneels down to the dog and uses as little force or restraint as possible. He muzzles the dog with a leash and carries him to a waiting vehicle.
“Even the die-hard, 30-year dog catchers were smiling and clapping because they got to see the wild dog captured with a leash and handled without a fight or struggle,” Pauli said. "I teach that every contact you have with a dog is an opportunity to improve his adoptability."
In a blog entry made on his return home, Pauli declared the trip a success.
“One city veterinarian listened to my talk on public image and humane education and announced immediately after the presentation that she was changing the title of her ‘dog catchers’ to ‘dog control officers’ and that she would ask the mayor to rename the 'city pound' the 'city animal shelter.' From decades of personal experience, I know that these changes are much more than semantics, and I am grateful to play even a minute role in helping this great culture to improve both its public health and animal welfare status.”
