infiniteperspective.net

I was going to share with you more amusing, fashionable, quaint, odd, and even downright dangerous tactics utilized by motorcycle drivers and their riders in Dumaguete City (see my previous post “Scenes from the Motorcycle”). However, a very serious incident happened which made me decide to write about this instead. This very unpleasant scene was experienced by my sister-in-law and a friend (and I’m pretty sure that this is also shared by countless others in the city) just recently, and it is caused by man’s best friend.

They were navigating a turn when her friend who was driving spotted a medium-sized dog sitting by the side of the road. She slowed down, anticipating the dog to cross. When the canine showed no sign of doing so, she continued on. And then in a sudden flash of movement, the dog ran, right smack into the gap between the wheels of the motorcycle, causing it to jam, and immobilizing the handlebars. As a consequence, my sister-in-law’s friend got badly bruised on the chest, arms and legs, my sister-in-law got nasty abrasions on her legs, and the suicidal creature who was the root cause of the said accident still managed to run away. When they asked the bystanders living in the area who witnessed the accident whose dog it was, all they got were negative answers of “I don’t know.”

I’ve already written about dogs causing pointless accidents in our streets in one of my previous in columns in the MetroPost before. And if I’m not mistaken, the provincial government has already stepped up the drive in ensuring that our streets are free of strays and rabid canines that make driving a living hell, especially for those on single MCs.

But it is still a fact that more needs to be done. And whether the effort comes from the barangay, city or provincial levels or the dog owners themselves, the problem of street dogs can only be solved through concerted effort. Please, this is an appeal for a more determined, resolute action against this problem. To the authorities: impound strays, make dog tags mandatory (and ensure that every dog has one), and make sure that they are all vaccinated. To all dog owners, keep your dogs within your fences, put them on a leash when you take them out walking unless they are very well trained to heed your every command, have them vaccinated especially against rabies, and if in spite of all your precautions they still manage to get out of the gate and cause some poor driver or their rider to fall off their vehicles, please be responsible enough to own your pet and help out the victims in whatever way you can.

There are already a number of documented and undocumented motorcycle accidents in the city caused by these dogs. But being the City of Gentle People that we are, perhaps we are taking this matter way too gently for our own good. All of us, authorities, residents, dog owners, pet lovers, every single one of us, are too passive where this issue is concerned. We already have laws, but they need to be strictly implemented if any impact is to be felt.

We are a motorcycle city. People of all ages, including the very young (I mean parents who bring their month-old infants to ride with them) and the very old use this modern convenience to get around. It is high-time that we make the city streets safer by taking dogs out of the picture. Unless they’re taking a walk with their masters, dogs don’t belong on the streets. Their rightful place is within the fences or walls of the homes they so fiercely protect. Not the sidewalk, not the side streets, not the main thoroughfares, not the highways. Dogs don’t belong on the streets, and it is our responsibility to keep them off it.

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