21/08/2024
We have had the most awful week and are only able to post about it now, but we always want to be transparent about what's going on at DAS, so this is what has been happening.
Last week, on Monday 12th, a couple of men showed up at the shelter claiming to be the owners of the current land we are on, and said that they were the legal owners of the land we rent for the shelter and demanded that we leave immediately. They showed us a title, but like a lot of titles here in the Philippines, it's not in their name but the name of people long dead. They came back 3 times over the next couple of days, demanding that we leave. Legally, they canβt just evict us even if what they say is true, so we were not concerned.
On Thursday evening at around 9pm, a black car started driving past the shelter, and just out of reach of the cameras, they fired a round of shots. We are in contact with the police, and we've had to hire 24/7 armed security to protect our staff and dogs. Since then, the car has driven past on 3 more occasions and fired shots. On top of this, some of our dogs suddenly became sick, and we are not sure what is causing it.
All of these events could be coincidental, but it's disturbing, to say the least. We cannot post anymore at this stage, as we are working with the authorities to try and figure out what is going on.
We understand that you will have a LOT of questions, as do we, but we are still trying to make sense of it all and just donβt have any answers right now. And because of the ongoing investigation, we are limited as to what we can post at the moment.
Because of everything that is going on, visits, events at the shelter, adoptions, etc., are on hold until we know more. We will update you when we have more information. Please keep us in your thoughts.