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By Herbie
Gomez
CAGAYAN DE ORO
CITY: The crowd at Divisoria Plaza here was celebrating a hero but
this was no warrior, no peace worker or anticorruption advocate.
“Chief”
died on February 12, saving two women from a cobra attack. He was a
pit bull terrier.
Chief saved
87-year-old Liberata la Victoria and her granddaughter Maria
Victoria Fronteras, the wife of his master, from a cobra that snaked
through an opening in the family’s kitchen shortly after 2 p.m.
The snake
struck twice at the women. Twice, the dog dashed from a corner and
shielded them.
Marlone
Fronteras, the terrier’s owner, said Chief seized the venomous
snake in the neck with its teeth and repeatedly slammed it on the
floor until it died.
But the cobra
managed to bite the dog’s jaw. Chief died a few minutes following
their battle, after giving its master a farewell gaze.
The
Fronterases and members of the pit bull owners’ group gave the dog
a “hero’s burial” the same day it died.
“We just
waited for the children to arrive from school because they loved
Chief so much,” said Fronteras, adding that his children even
called the dog “kuya” (older brother).
Fatal wound
Maria Victoria
shed tears as she narrated the dog’s heroism.
“The snake
was in front of us, maneuvering a deadly attack,” said Mrs.
Fronteras. “I screamed out loud to ask for help.”
Hearing this,
the four-year-old pit bull terrier dashed from its sleeping area to
fight off the deadly snake, she said.
Maria
Fronteras said she saw the cobra expand its neck as soon as she
turned the lights on.
She said the
cobra looked like it was spitting as it inched closer, about a meter
away, toward her.
From out of
nowhere, she said Chief jumped on the cobra, bit it in the neck, and
then shook and slammed it till it died.
Moments later,
the dog slouched flat and fainted, spreading its arms and feet on
the floor.
“Chief
looked tired,” said Maria Victoria Fronteras.
The dog lost
control of its organs some 30 minutes; it started to urinate and
defecate uncontrollably inside the house as it gasped for air and
panted heavily.
A veterinarian
told the Fronterases nothing could have saved Chief. The snakebite
was near the dog’s brain and the venom spread rapidly.
Maria Victoria
immediately called Marlone who rushed home, stunned by the news.
He said the
last thing Chief did was wag its tail while gazing at him.
“Chief gave
his two deep breaths and died. It was saving its energy to get a
glimpse of his master for the last two seconds of its life,” said
Ian de la Rama, a friend of the Fronterases.
Balloons
The local
chapter of the Royale Pit Bull Club-Ancient Fraternal Order of the
Pit Bulls gave Chief a colorful farewell. Members of their club and
their children released balloons and lit candles at the crowded
Divisoria Plaza in the heart of this city.
The group also
used the event to correct a misperception about pit bulls.
“They are
not natural-born killers; they are gentle and very loyal to their
masters,” said rally organizer, Eugene Tan.
In other
countries, pit bull terriers were once bred for bull-baiting—a
“game” where dogs attacked bulls in pits—and subsequently,
dog-fighting.
In the United
Kingdom, for instance, the Dangerous Dogs Act of 1991 regulates the
breeding and sale or exchange of pit bull terriers and three other
kinds of dog—Japanese Tosas, Dogo Argentinos and the Fila
Brasileiros. The regulation covers crossbreeds of those dogs.
There is no
such law here. Nonetheless, pit bull terriers in the country suffer
from bad publicity, the rally organizers admitted.
Champ
Chief, they
hope, can salvage from beyond the grave his fellow pit bull’s
image.
Tan said what
the dog did was consistent with the nature of pit bull terriers.
“They can be territorial, and they are very protective of their
masters.”
Tan’s group
officially declared Chief the “grandfather” of pit bull terriers
in the city. The dog, he explained, was popular among dog breeders
here that up to 60 percent of Cagayan de Oro’s estimated 500 pit
bull terrier population owe their existence to Chief.
“Chief was
very popular [among dog lovers]. Many loved and sought it for
breeding because of its size, and because the dog was tame and
loveable,” said Tan.
He said Chief
even won a weight-lifting competition for dogs.
“To us,
Chief was the Manny Pacquiao of pit bull terriers in the city. He
was the champ.”
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