Stray 'aspins' find home at Talisay City Hall offices in Cebu

Stray "aspins" (Asong Pinoy) that roam in the vicinity of the Talisay City Hall in Cebu have been adopted by employees.

One of offices that adopted the "aspins" is the Talisay City Tourism Office.

Four big "aspins" named Brownie, Whitey, Biggie, and Tiger, a female aspin, have been adopted for nearly three years now at the Talisay City Tourism Office.

The dogs have come to serve the office, too, by welcoming guests.

According to Mikki Aznar, Talisay City Tourism Officer, the dogs were puppies yet when they started feeding them outside of the City Hall.

Aznar described them to be “skinny puppies" in the beginning.

As most of the employees at the City Tourism Office are dog lovers, they started caring for the dogs. The dogs have become their stress reliever, described to be very affectionate.

Aside from dogs, Aznar said they also rescued cats they spotted near the flagpole two years ago. They describe the cats to be sickly at first.

Aznar pointed out that the animals have been spayed and neutered with the help of Dr. Ma. Christine Hope Dejadena, chief of the Talisay City Veterinarian's Office.

The animals have also been vaccinated and provided with vitamins.

However, because of a policy about the presence of dogs in government offices, Aznar makes sure that from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., the animals are already taken out of the office.

The animals stay in their cages at nighttime, and that cleanup and disinfection at the City Tourism Office is done weekly.

A popular guard dog at the Talisay City Hall named “Buddy” is also adopted at the City Engineering Office.

The other rescued dogs are with the City Agriculture Office.

Aznar added that the rescue and treatment of dogs at the Talisay City Hall show that the city is working on becoming a pet-friendly city.

Aznar hopes the act would be replicated, for more persons to become responsible pet owners and for others to take on animal rescue as an advocacy. —GMA Regional TV