Caged: dogs' plight Horror Of Illegal Dog Trade Animal welfare campaigners have accused the Philippines government of not doing enough to end the suffering of dogs bred for the dinner table. The animals face horrendous conditions and are killed brutally before their meat is served up as a "delicacy". Sky's Martin Brunt has been to Manila to investigate. He filed this special report to Sky News Online: The black, unmarked police car had shadowed the small truck for 20 miles as it weaved its way through heavy traffic along the highway towards Manila. Just beyond the toll booth at the city limit the cops swung in front of their target and forced it to stop. As we approached we could smell the dogs and hear their whimpering. Airless They were crammed into metal cages which the illegal meat traders had barely bothered to hide beneath cloths and empty oil cans. It was 9pm on a humid, airless night. The temperature was nudging 28 degrees. A cursory glance into the back of the truck gave a clear hint of the wretched animals' plight. The full horror was revealed only when an officer had forced open the metal rear door. Suffering There was such a jumble of heads, tails and legs it was impossible to tell which limbs belonged to which dog. According to animal rights campaigners, each night truck-loads of dogs like these are driven in appalling conditions from the southern suburbs of the capital north to the mountainous region of Baguio, where they are butchered, sold and eaten as a delicacy. Corruption For two years the London-based campaign group Political Animal Lobby has been battling to stop the trade. It is outlawed by the Philippines authorities, but an apparent lack of will, police corruption and inadequate penalties mean it continues much as before. Pal's David Barritt splashed water through the mesh of the cages as he struggled to untie the wire fastenings that held them shut. "Just look at their suffering," he said. "They are hot and desperate for air and water. It's difficult to imagine what they have been through." Pal members who later accompanied the 75 dogs to the local pound said that 30 of them were dead on arrival. Fines The truck driver and his mate, two dishevelled Filippinos in grubby T-shirts and shorts, were led off to the police station. They were released after questioning. Brunt: shocked Although the offence can carry a jail sentence and/or a maximum fine of 5,000 pesos (£61) offenders are seldom ordered to pay more than 1,000 pesos (£12). "We are pressing the government to give much bigger fines and start seizing vehicles," said Barritt. "That's the only way these people will understand what they are doing is wrong. There just isn't the deterrent for them to stop." We flew 167 miles north into the mountains to see what happened to the dogs that weren't intercepted by police. Slaughter The area around Baguio City is the dog-eating centre of the Philippines where for centuries people have killed and eaten the animals with impunity. Illegal trade Today, little is being done to enforce the new laws. An early-morning raid on an illegal slaughterhouse took us into a scene from hell. It was no more than a grubby backyard with bamboo shelters, its cracked concrete floor splattered with fresh blood. On a table in the middle was a pile of dead dogs, their throats slashed and their jaws still tightly bound with plastic ties. One of the animals began to twitch. Blood dripped from its mouth. Blow torch Around them were the tools of the butcher's trade - a blood-stained wooden club used to beat the dogs, knives and choppers to finish them off and a gas-fired blow torch for burning away their fur. And in cages nearby were the dogs which would have been next for the chopping block. They stared meekly at us, subdued, weak from heat exhaustion and unable to make any noise. With no food or water, they had watched their fellow animals being slaughtered and must have assumed that we had come to do the same to them. Some of them were lucky and would survive, but many were expected to be put down humanely, too weak to recover from their ordeal. This update is sent with images enclosed. If you are receiving this through a list that does not permit these, you may wish to visit our web site at www.2kat.net/itstheirdestiny and subscribe to future updates direct from ITD. If not though a list, you will have received this email because you either subscribed to our mailing list, or were kind enough to respond to one of our campaigns. Either way, our sincere thanks for your support. Should you wish to receive no further updates from ITD, please send a blank email to itstheirdestiny@uk6.net, subject "Unsubscribe".