Must love dogs (and cats) - CARA Welfare Philippines!

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Filling Features on the Modern Lifestyle
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Must love dogs
(and cats)
The gentle but determined fight for
animal welfare
Writer September Grace Mahino
Photographers Shaira Luna and Keith Dador
I
t was love pretty much at first sight.
When Mike De Jesus first met
his tripod dog Tiger through CARA
Welfare Philippines, a non-profit nongovernment organization dedicated
to help the plight of animals in the country,
he was admittedly more excited to see the
dog than it was to see him. The 24-year-old
recalls, “Our meeting wasn’t what I expected,
that he would come to me curiously to sniff
me. Tiger actually seemed uninterested, but
I understood; I was a stranger.” De Jesus
asked permission from CARA if he could take
the dog out for a long walk, and a few days
later, he dropped by the clinic with a friend
to bring Tiger to Bonifacio High Street. “It
took a while for him to warm up to us. But at
the end of the day, Tiger was running around
and playing just like a normal dog: I’d sit on
the grass and he’d run and bury his head in
my arms, asking for a hug.” That afternoon
clinched the deal. In the span of just two
weeks, starting from the day when he checked
out CARA’s website and read Tiger’s story,
De Jesus was able to bring home the dog to
his forever home. “I’m glad I gave Tiger a
chance. I gained myself not just a dog but a
loyal companion.”
JULY 2012
73
GARAGEMAGAZINE.PH
edited by
september mahino