In the Philippines, the cliché goes that when a dog bites man it is not news, but when a man bites dog, then it is news. In the poor urban slums of Manila, there are still people who eat dog meat clandestinely. No, they do not kill their pet dogs (which they treat as part of the family), but instead hunt for the askal or the asong kalye, the stray dog that nobody owns. This despite the 1998 law called the Animal Welfare Act (Republic Act 8485) prohibiting the killing of dogs and eating dog meat*.The enactment of this law is the result of lobbying by many animal rights advocates who perceived dogs to be inherently emotional animals and attached to humanity. They argued about the cruel treatment of dogs and their gruesome slaughter by dog meat dealers. Additionally, they argue that dog meat consumption has been linked to the transmission of rabies to man, with two reported deaths in the Philippines.
Prior to this recent law against dog-eating, dog meat is consumed openly in Baguio and its surrounding mountainous regions. There are also people in Pampanga, Bulacan, Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, and Metro Manila who regularly eat dog meat. Back then, some restaurants offered dog meat in their regular menu, a favored piece de resistance especially among beer drinkers who consider dog meat as the tastiest meat even compared to beef or pork. Aficionados add that dog-meat has the ability to warm the body, not only because it is always cooked with lots of chopped chilies, but because it is considered an aphrodisiac.
Nevertheless, even now that the law has been passed protecting man’s best friend from becoming man’s food, there are still hundreds of dogs slaughtered for food consumption. The website dogmeattrade.com reports that some 500,000 dogs are slaughtered annually in the Philippines for human consumption. Indeed passing a law and enforcing its provisions are two different things, especially in the Philippines.
In fact, aren't we always treated to a spectacle in the news of police tracking down dog meat dealers on the way to the northern mountainous provinces, where dog-meat is regularly consumed? The dog dealers would pack the unfortunate canines inside cramped and enclosed steel cages to prevent people from seeing them and hearing their barks and moans. In the eight hours of travel that the dogs have to endure, some of them die of suffocation, heat, exhaustion, and thirst along the way, while the others that survived were in such a deplorable condition you would think they’d have been luckier if they died en route.
This goes to prove there are still many people who eat dog meat regularly. And if they grew up eating dog meat, wouldn’t it be a violation of their human rights not to let them eat the meat they were accustomed to? That is just one of the controversial questions asked me by one of my dog-eating friends in Baguio. Indeed, my friend added, if dog meat is to be outlawed, wouldn’t it be logical also to prohibit the eating of pork, chicken, beef, or other animals as well?
I ate a dog
When I was a young boy, I was tricked into eating dog meat by a dog-eating uncle in a town fiesta in Pampanga. I was told it was beef. Up to now I still remember how delicious it was, and how it was so tender and juicy. When the other guests began to talk on how dog meat was much tastier than beef and pork, it was only then I realized I was eating a dog. I stopped eating right away and almost puked. Up to now, writing this piece, I still feel like throwing up whenever I remember that shameful and gut-wrenching episode. I am positive that I would have never eaten the meat if I knew that it was a dog meat. The only meats I regularly eat are pork, beef , and chicken. I shun other meats like horse, goat, and carabao, let alone dog. It is not because I am a sensitive person, but rather because I have not been reared to eat these.
Be that as it may, I would not say I wouldn’t eat them in the future. Culture changes with a force majeure. For instance, explorers trapped in the icy regions of the South and North Pole were forced to eat their sleigh dogs when the situation arose they would have starved and died otherwise. Many tribes in Siberia and Alaska also consume dog meat as emergency sustenance -- when no other food is available -- during the cold winter months.
Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer who first conquered Antarctica, was known to have eaten his sled dogs during his expedition to the South Pole. By eating some of the dogs, he required less human or dog food, thus lightening his load. If I would be in a similar situation as Amundsen, I would certainly eat dog meat if it were the only way to survive. But if I had another choice, I would never eat a dog. This is because my conscience cannot bear to eat the animal closest to human affection.
In truth, dog meat is considered food not only in the Philippines but in many countries around the world as well, including China, Japan, Hongkong, Korea, India, Tonga and East Timor. In the past, some peoples in France, Belgium, Germany, and Poland were known to consume dog meat.
Dog hunting in the slums
In the urban slums of Manila, many people still eat dog meat, a favorite pulutan (finger food) of the istambays during their merry drinking. I chanced on a group of these dog-hunting istambays during one of my visits to the poorest slums of Tondo.
From where I stood, I smelled a strong scent of burning hair and skin, which is that of the dog they have recently killed. Of course, they knew that it is against the law to kill a dog, so their activity is clandestine. Fortunately, at the time, I was with a guide from the neighborhood whom the hunters knew. My guide assured them that I am not from the police, and they agreed to let me document their cooking, provided I did not photograph their faces, and that I gave them fifty pesos for a Tanduay.
The first question I asked was how the dog hunters obtain a dog. What I was told sent chills down my spine – it was like a gruesome murder plot in the making. In this part of the slums, everything that can be eaten will be eaten. Pagpag, discarded left-overs from fast food restaurants, are dug out of the piles of trash and eaten. And so it is with the askal (stray dog). Some men in the Tondo slums consider it a delicacy and they spend the whole day hunting for stray dogs.
Hunting the askal
The dog hunters are usually a group of four men-- one acts as look-out; another, as baiter, a third, as executioner; and the last, as slaughterer.
The dog, however, cannot be killed in the same manner as a chicken or a pig, which easily bleeds to death with a single thrust of the knife to its nape. The dog, when cornered, often fights back, biting its killers, even if its throat has been slit open. Killing a dog with a knife is thus a dangerous task to the hunters. It must be done in a more gruesome but, thankfully, instant manner.
The technique, therefore, is to lure the askal with bait, say a piece of meat tied to a long string. The dog spots the meat and proceeds to eat it, at which time one of the hunters pulls the string until the dog is trapped in a secluded place, where the executioner awaits in a corner. The method, however cruel it may be, is to kill the dog with a single blow to the head with a blunt and heavy object, such as a baseball bat or a maso (huge hammer). The executioner must exert all his strength and be precise in his blow as there is no second chance: the dog can bite back if it knew its life is in danger. It is also believed, that the more forceful the blow, the less the dog would suffer, as it will instantly die. Blood would not spill out this way (except for some from the mouth and the nostrils), keeping the meat warm and in turn giving warmth to the body of the dog eaters.
Asozena
I witnessed first hand how the hunters cooked the askal. The dog is tied upside down with a wire tied to a post. A blow torch is applied to the dog’s body to burn its hair. The strong scent of the burning hair and skin pervades through the whole neighborhood so that soon everyone becomes aware that a dog is being cooked. Dog butchering and cooking are always considered a spectacle, and after a few moments come the rubbernecks who want to witness how a dog becomes “azocena” (literally, dog supper). Some of the men who did not participate in the hunt would contribute a few pesos to buy spices with. This entitles them to partake of the cooked meat.
The burnt hair is then scraped with a sharp blade until the charred body of the dog is exposed. The head is cut. The burnt skin is chopped into little strips, and marinated in vinegar, ginger, and siling labuyo. This is called kilawin, and is a favorite pulutan with Tanduay or beer. The dog is slit open from anus to esophagus to remove the internal organs. The intestines are cleaned of any remaining undigested food and are destined to become the isaw, or barbecued intestines. The blood that is still in the stomach is dripped into a glass. According to old belief, pure dog blood cures tuberculosis, and a tubercular can drink it from there. A man, who had been suffering from cough, volunteered to drink the blood, to the amusement of everyone. It relieved his cough, he stated.
Meanwhile, the other internal organs of the dog such as the heart, lungs and liver are chopped to little morsels and roasted over a pit coal. The “spare parts” like the paws, the tail, and the ear are also cleaned of remaining hair. These, too, will be cooked and eaten.
The dog meat is cooked in a variety of ways. In this case, the men agreed to cook kaldereta, one of the most popular dog dishes. A large cauldron was borrowed from one of the neighbors. Pooling their money, the men bought spices in the nearby sari-sari store: garlic, onions, siling labuyo (red chillies), butter, ginisa mix, and tomato paste.
The meat is chopped to small morsels and placed inside a huge pot and then boiled to a certain tenderness and then set aside. In the cauldron, the crushed garlic and chopped onions are sauteed in butter. The ginisa mix, siling labuyo and tomato paste follow. Finally, the tenderized meat, including head, feet, ears, paws and tail, are added and simmered.
When the cooking is done, the dog hunters serve the kaldereta on a small table, bring out the Tanduay, and sit in a circle to begin their merry drinking and eating. It is for them a fine way to warm up, relax, and enjoy after a tiring day of hunting and killing.
* The law excludes killing of dogs for the religious rituals of the mountainous tribes in the Cordillera.
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