CARA relays apology from PestBusters regarding the BGC cats: ‘They were clueless’

The search for the cats of BGC continues.

Late evening Wednesday, Compassion and Responsibility for Animals (CARA) Welfare Philippines shared an update on the situation via Facebook, sharing for the first time the side of PestBusters.

PestBusters has been providing pest management services to Shangri-La Fort regularly and were asked to relocate the cats spotted in the hotel's basement and premises between October and November 2017.

In a meeting with CARA, representatives from PestBusters said that they made a call to another animal welfare organization, but were told that it was already "operating beyond maximum capacity."

They made another call, this time to the Taguig City Pound, and were told that only two cats every two weeks can be accepted.

Pressed by the circumstances, PestBusters decided to relocate the cats on their own.

"The first 8 cats were picked up and placed in cages and then taken to Buting via taxi. The Anastacio cats were hand-carried in cages to the location," CARA's statement read.

"Pest Busters has expressed that they are truly sorry for what they did," the statement continued. "They were clueless when it came to handling this situation, it was an ad hoc, a one-off, because Shangri-La requested them for assistance."

CARA quoted PestBusters as saying, "We are truly very sorry for what happened. We did what we thought was our best with good intentions. We thought we were doing the right thing. We acted on our best knowledge that was not good enough. We tried to act professionally. We are determined to make it right.”

PestBusters additionally acknowledged that they are in violation of the Impleneting Rules and Regulations of the Animal Welfare Act, specifically abandonment, and that they did not have a permit to transport the cats. — Aya Tantiangco, GMA News