Ateneo BOx and CommuniTails Hold Dog and Cat Feeding Day at PAWS Center

Continuing its work on issues of animal welfare, the Ateneo Biological Organization – eXplore. eXperience. eXcel. (BOx) partnered with CommuniTails, a fledgling group promoting Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT), on a special feeding day at the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) Animal Rehabilitation Center last Saturday, 23 January. The dogs and cats in PAWS—most of which are abandoned or abused pets waiting for a new home—usually eat processed pet food donated by generous patrons of the organization. Last Saturday, BOx and CommuniTails members brought and prepared special food for the resident animals: ground meat and rice for the canines, galunggong and squash for the felines. They were joined by volunteer high school students from Immaculate Conception Academy-Greenhills. Afterward, PAWS staff member Loren Villena took the volunteers on a tour around the facilities, where they saw the animals enjoying the treat that they had prepared.

PAWS is a volunteer-based non-governmental organization that seeks to stop animal cruelty through their efforts at advocacy, rehabilitation, and public education. Many of the dogs and cats currently at the Center are in need of loving families that will adopt and take care of them. BOx has been working together with PAWS on several projects since its founding in 2004. CommuniTails was established and is headed by Dr. Carla Azucena, a former BOx member and a graduate of the Ateneo de Manila University (BS Biology ’07) and the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health.