Population Of Carabaos In Pangasinan Decreased Due To Non-Stop Slaughtering
Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) official said that the population of carabaos in Pangasinan severely drops after non-stop slaughtering for meat products.
Mangaldan town’s primary product is the processed carabao meat such as “Tapa” (Dried Meat) and “Pigar-Pigar” (Deep Fried Carabeef), which are displayed and selling in the food stalls in the central town and cities of Pangasinan.
Gloria de la Cruz, PCC chief in La Union province said that it is sad to think that even cross-bred with foreign-bred buffaloes were also slaughtered.
In 2011, the population of the carabao slaughtered in the province was 10, 705 and increased to 15, 395. The carabao population in the area dropped from 83, 659 down to 78, 547 for the same period.
De la Cruz encouraged the Pangasinan meat processors to grow their own carabaos, instead of buying from farmers.
“They can pool their resources and raise their own carabaos. If some of these will produce offspring later, then they will also have a source of milk and an additional source of income,” said by De la Cruz quoted by Inquirer.
PCC started cross-breeding carabaos with foreign-bred Murrah buffaloes through natural or artificial insemination in the province. This strategy was done in order to improve the population of the carabaos.
De la Cruz also stressed that their effort to improve carabao breeds usually ended up in slaughter houses. She also said that the farmers who were given a carabao to raise usually sold the animal’s offspring due to financial problems.
“The farmer would always tell me, ‘Ma’am, I needed money because a family member got sick,’” Gloria said.
Pangasinan released a provincial ordinance regulating the sale and slaughter of female carabaos, but the indiscriminate slaughter of carabaos in the province continues.
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