Feature: Six-foot-tall dog mascot tells passersby in Manila's Chinatown to adopt dog

MANILA, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Countless passersby posed on Monday with a happy six-foot-tall dog mascot that animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) lets loose in Manila's Chinatown to send a message to Filipinos to adopt dogs instead of buying from pet shops.

Brandishing a sign that read, "Happy Year of the Dog. Adopt, Don't Shop," activists from PETA initiated "a fun demonstration" to ring ahead of the Chinese Lunar Year with an urgent adoption plea to control the growing number of stray dogs in the country.

PETA is encouraging tourists and shoppers in the district called Binondo to adopt dogs from local shelters or rescue groups instead of buying purebreds from pet stores or breeders, which simply serves to exacerbate the homeless-animal crisis.

"It's more like a fun demonstration to show the public that one way of honoring dogs in the Year of the Dog is by adopting," PETA spokesperson Jana Sevilla told Xinhua in an interview.

With the help of the mascot, Sevilla said PETA was able to catch the attention of the passersby around the Carriedo Fountain in Santa Cruz district in the city of Manila.

"We are there with our dog mascot. Holding signs, the representatives from PETA were walking around giving leaflets," Sevilla said.

Media representatives were invited to cover the event that PETA hopes to increase the awareness of people on dog homelessness.

"We just want people to be aware that there's a problem with animal homelessness, a lot of dogs are homeless," Sevilla said.

She said PETA wants everyone to be open with adoption, and not to buy from breeders or pet shops. "A lot of homeless dogs are just waiting for someone to find them and rescue them. Open up your homes for them," Sevilla said.

She said animal shelters and pounds are bursting at the seams with dogs waiting to be adopted.

Sevilla said the campaign was a success. "Countless passersby in Chinatown were so interested, a lot of people asked what's going on, and requested to have pictures with the dog mascot. It was fun," she said.

Aside from promotion and adoption, PETA is also promoting spay and neuter to avoid unwanted pregnancy.

"Once dogs get pregnant, they could give birth to six or eight dogs," she said, "If these animals are homeless, it will exacerbate the problem. If we adopt and have them spay and neutered then the population of homeless dogs will decrease."

"Spaying and neutering are routine, affordable surgeries that can prevent thousands of animals from being born, suffering and struggling to survive on the streets," Sevilla said.

Sevilla said that PETA is working closely with other animal welfare groups like the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) and Compassion and Responsibility for Animals (CARA) Welfare Philippines to promote the plight of animals.

Packs of stray dogs are a common sight in Philippine streets, fuelled by public reluctance to sterilize pets. Some are aggressive as they scrounge for food scraps in the garbage.

In 2007, the government signed into law called "Anti-Rabies Act of 2007" or "an act providing for the control and elimination of human and animal rabies."

The law requires local government units to ensure all dogs are immunized and to strictly enforce dog impounding activities and field control to eliminate stray dogs. It also requires that dogs are leashed or confined within the premises of the owner's house or fences surroundings.

But the law did not solve the growing number of dogs aimlessly roaming the streets. Enditem