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Veterinarians and animal welfare workers today euthanized at least nine of the 300 pit bulls rescued from a dogfighting ring in the Philippines — and they expect to euthanize dozens more — primarily because of there are no facilities in which to rehabilitate them.

Anna Cabrera, of the Philippine Animal Welfare Society, said 17 of the seized dogs had been put down a day after the raids.

Noting that some of the rescued dogs had been seized before from dogfighting operations, Cabrera said she feared many of them — if simply adopted out — could again end up facing “a fate worse than death.”

How many more will still be euthanized depends on their health, behavior, their potential to be rehabilitated, and the animal welfare group’s supply of drugs — reportedly only enough to euthanize 70 animals, the Associated Press reported.

Police arrested eight South Koreans suspected of running an illegal online gambling operations in which players outside the Philippines bet on dogs fighting at the compound. 

Welfare society veterinarian Wilford Almora said many of the pit bulls had injuries from previous fights, including ripped ears and tongues.

He said his group had enough drugs to euthanize 70 dogs, and had put down at least nine Tuesday afternoon with 13 more planned before they finished later in the evening.

“We are not in a hurry. We just want to make sure that the ones we put to sleep are the ones that deserve to be put to sleep based on their medical condition,” he said.

Cabrera said it was not possible to care for all the pit bulls that were rescued and it would be irresponsible to allow the injured animals to be adopted.

Most of the dogs were seized from a 5-acre coffee plantation in San Pablo city, where they were kept in metal fuel drums and tied to heavy steel chains. Police also recovered 30 dogs from an arena in the nearby town of Calauan where a dogfight was about to begin.

More than 300 dogs were rescued in the separate raids. The eight suspects, charged with animal cruelty and gambling, are being turned over to immigration officials.

If convicted of illegal gambling, they face a maximum of 12 years in prison. The charge of animal cruelty carries a penalty of up to two years. No one in the Philippines has ever served time for animal cruelty, the Associated Press reported.

(Photo: Philippine Animal Welfare Society)

More than 300 pit bulls were seized from a farm where fighting dogs were kept in a town south of Manila, and eight South Koreans were arrested — many of whom were out on bail after earlier arrests on dogfighting charges.

Many of the rescued dogs — taken during raids on a dogfighting arena and a dog farm south of Manilla — had ripped ears and tongues, the Associated Press reported.

Authorities said the fights between pit bulls were streamed live on the Internet, and gamblers, mostly foreigners, placed bets using credit cards or Paypal.

Chief Inspector Renante Galang of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group’s national office said five of the suspects were out on bail after being arrested Dec. 3 at a dog fight club in Cavite.

“We received information that while they were out on bail they moved and set up another gaming facility in Laguna,” Galang said Saturday.

The dog fight arena in Calauan was raided just before a fight was to take place Friday evening, Galang said.

After the raid, police went to a San Pablo City dog farm, where more than 300 were rescued.

The suspects were to be charged today with violation of the Animal Welfare Act and illegal gambling, he added.

Many of the dogs were in bad condition and some had been injured in previous fights, said Anna Cabrera, executive director of the Philippine Animal Welfare Society.

Each of the dogs on the farm was chained to a steel drum, which served as a doghouse.

PAWS veterinarians said 10 pit bulls were so badly injured they had to be euthanized.

(Photo: Philippine Animal Welfare Society)

A report out of the Phillipines says a city dog pound that experimented with drowning dogs to euthanize them has returned to its practice of exterminating them by gas — specifically, by using auto exhaust pumped into a shed.

The Manila-based Animal Welfare Coalition (AWC) has assailed the local City Pound Office (CPO) of Cagayan De Oro City for drowning impounded strays in buckets of water.

Dr. Perla Asis, city veterinarian, confirmed they have experimented on various ways of killing unclaimed animals since 1996 but said they only used drowning once, according to a news report.

Joey Nacalaban, a photojournalist for a local newspaper, said he witnessed the drowning of at least 10 dogs at the city landfill in August and took pictures of the procedure.

“The dogs died in about five minutes (after immersion of their heads in water). The drowning was done in public,” he said.

“The City Pound Officer has committed a crime. He should go to jail,” said Ramona Eliza Consunji, AWC external affairs officer.

The City Veterinarian said intracranial injection have also been used, but those were stopped after a staffer lost a finger to a dog bit.

Instead, the CPO, in a bid to stem the spread of rabies, has opted to use gas poisoning to exterminate unclaimed animals, creating an improvised gas chamber fashioned out of wood. An average of 25 to 35 dogs are gassed on Thursdays using motor vehicle exhaust in a process that lasts up to about 40 minutes, she said.

Consunji said that if the city government wants to minimize the number of stray dogs, it should conduct a campaign to educate people on responsible pet ownership.