Chile is about to permit dogs to be hunted and killed by any means or device imaginable. The government is endorsing extermination and hidden massacres – all masked behind a façade of animal welfare legislation. Cats also face the same fate.
As a last minute decision, the government of the outgoing President Sebastián Piñera has added dogs to the country’s list of harmful wild species. As such, any dog found at more than 400 meters (438 yards) from a house or other human settlement will be fair game for a hunter. However, dogs within this parameter are also sure to be hunted.
Any tourist that has been to Chile is sure to have seen hundreds of dogs in the streets, abandoned by owners who simply didn’t want them anymore. Not only do the dogs struggle to survive on the street (some with the help of animal lovers and welfare organizations), they now face being cruelly hunted by anyone who disapproves of their presence.
Even government institutions will participate in their elimination. It is already common practice for municipalities to round up stray dogs, drive them out to low-populated or rural areas, and dump them. With the proposed legislation, this practice will become more common and the gateway to their assassination. Once in the countryside, dogs can then be legally exterminated.
But not only the satrays will suffer the same fate. In February, Gringo -the dog in the video-, was killed by gunshot in the touristy island of Chiloé. He suffered in agony in front of his human brothers and playmates, before taking his last breath. ( http://youtu.be/FGpi7VVFcd4 ).
The recently elected President Michelle Bachelet can reverse this immoral legislation. Please sign this petition and tell the Chilean government the proposed extermination methods are archaic, cruel, and ineffective. Let the government know it must conduct massive neuter and spay programs, promote responsible pet ownership, conduct educational programs, and truly condemn and punish animal abandonment to effectively and humanely reduce the number of abandoned and street-dwelling animals in Chile.
