Government Fails to Shutdown Illegal Dog Breeder and Illegal Wildlife Collector Following PETA Investigation.

Bulacan — Government officials have yet to enforce an order to shutdown Joverman Kennel Bulacan and are instead allowing the kennel to apply for the very permit it should have had all along. In response, PETA is condemning the apparent leniency and demanding that San Rafael officials enforce the shutdown, that the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) withhold authorization until sanctions are imposed, and that the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) investigate Joverman’s years of sales and tax history. The shutdown order followed a PETA complaint in September that prompted an investigation, which found Joverman had been breeding dogs without the required permit. Video footage captured by PETA’ at Joverman is available here.

PETA’s investigators found approximately 100 dogs kept for breeding and wild animals confined to small cages at Joverman. A worker said that monkeys were being kept secretly on the property, prompting PETA to alert the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). In August, DENR Community Environment and Natural Resources (CENRO) Baliwag City officials inspected Joverman and found illegally kept wild animals—including civet cats, iguanas, pythons, eagles, and monkeys—but instead of filing wildlife charges against kennel owner Joel Viola Valderama, the agency recorded the animals as having been voluntarily turned over by him. PETA is now seeking to have the dogs removed from Joverman so they can no longer be used for breeding and to ensure that any remaining wild animals are removed from Valderama’s custody.

Credit: PETA Asia

“Allowing Joverman to simply catch up on paperwork after years of breeding and selling dogs without the required permit makes a mockery of the law,” says PETA President Jason Baker. “PETA is calling on authorities to enforce the closure order, investigate Joverman’s business activity, and make clear that breaking laws meant to protect animals has consequences.”

When BAI directed Valderama to explain why the kennel had been operating without a permit, Valderama acknowledged that he had been keeping and breeding dogs for years without applying for one. Joverman’s social media pages indicate that the kennel has been doing business since at least 2021.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAAsia.com or follow PETA Asia on X, Facebook, or LinkedIn.