A white tarpaulin, containing a dead dog, was found in Lower Busay, Cebu City on Wednesday, September 6, and was mistaken by residents to contain a dead person. | Paul Lauro
CEBU CITY, Philippines — A dead dog wrapped inside a white tarpaulin was mistaken for a dead person which caused panic among residents in a mountainous barangay in Cebu City on Wednesday morning, September 6, 2023.
The residents of Lower Busay, Cebu City were sent into a frenzy on Wednesday morning after they discovered a white cloth containing an identified object in the barangay.
READ: Dead woman, tied and wrapped, found inside a box in Tisa, Cebu
Suspected cloth contained body
The locals were alarmed by a mysterious object found in a grassy area at around 9:00 a.m.
After seeing the shape of the cloth, the locals suspected that the cloth contained a human body.
READ MORE: Cebu City vet: Properly dispose deceased pets
The object also reportedly emitted a foul odor which further made them suspect that it was body of a dead person.
However, after police arrived at the scene and opened the wrapped tarpaulin, and found out wrapped inside the white tarpaulin was not a dead human but a dead dog.
READ: Woman found dead inside box in Cebu was 19 year-old from Davao del Norte
Abandoned suspected cadaver
Police Major Caesar Acompañado, chief of Malubog Police Community Precinct, said that they received a call from a resident, Marvin Argiente, about an abandoned suspected cadaver in the area at around 10:40 a.m.
The police report showed that Argiente told police that he accidentally saw the object while looking for banana leaves at the area.
After receiving the call, police personnel immediately went to the area to investigate the matter, said Acompañado.
Police Staff Sergeant Roydan Tillor, one of the responding officers, said that when they arrived at the area, they suspected that the tarpaulin contained the body of an animal.
Acompañado added that police personnel were initially waiting for the Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) to open the object.
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Dead black Labrador
But after they were advised by SOCO to open the tarpaulin themselves, the police slowly opened the object to determine the contents.
After opening the tarpaulin, the police found that the content was a dead black Labrador.
“Karon pag-abli, iro man diay nga itom. Dako kaayong iroa,” he said.
(Now, when it was unwrapped, it was a dead black dog. It was really a big dog.)
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People panicked
Acompañado also said that nobody saw who left the white tarpaulin wrapped body of the dog in the area which caused the residents to panic believing that body of a dead person was abandoned there.
Ebing Famador, Busay barangay captain, for her part, said that the abandoned tarpaulin was reported to her by a resident.
She said that she instructed a barangay tanod to check the area.
“Nakuyawan jud ko. Kay abi nakog, sus, tawo na sad ni. Masunod atong didtong gilabay sa Tisa. Nagtuo mi nga sa iyang gidak-on, mura gyud siyag tawo,” she said.
(I was afraid. Because I thought that this was another dead person. This will be the same to that one thrown in Tisa. We really thought because of the size of the thing wrapped in the tarpaulin that it was the body of a dead person.)
READ: City councilor seeks justice for Bonbon, the dog who suffered animal cruelty
Bury dead dog properly
Famador said that they would make sure that the dog would be buried properly.
She advised residents to avoid leaving their dead pets anywhere and to bury them properly.
Tillor also reminded the public to bury their dead pets in a proper manner in order to avoid causing panic among residents.
“Sa katong mga tag-iya og animals, kung namatay man gani atong mga pinanggang mananap, ilubong nilag tarong og dili main-ani. Kay makacause man gud og panic sa mga tawo,” he said.
(To those who own animals, if these beloved animals will die, please bury them properly so that it would not result to this situation. Because it could cause panic to the people.)
Acompañado said that they would conduct a follow-up investigation to identify the owner of the abandoned dead dog.
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