With World Animal Day coming up early next month, animal rights advocates yesterday called on the government to impose additional charges in the pet trade to safeguard animal welfare and announced a collective crawl — a literal one — to increase public awareness of the subject.
The eight-day collective crawl, which starts today, will be held in Taipei City and Taipei County, organizers said.
“When you crawl, you will know the fear and helplessness a dog feels when it is abandoned by its owner,” Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST) director Chen Yu-min (陳玉敏) said.
“We want to draw the attention of both domestic and international media to the reasons why Taiwan has failed to solve the problems created by stray cats and dogs after all these years,” Chen said.
The Animal Protection Act (動物保護法) came into force 12 years ago. Aside from the Taipei City Government, which has an Animal Protection Office, animal protection is mostly handled by the agriculture bureaus of local governments, Chen said.
A majority of local governments entrust cleaning squads from their environmental protection bureaus to catch stray animals and the process is often gory and cruel, she added.
Although he is physically disabled, Huang Tai-shan (黃泰山) said he would join the campaign and crawl alongside others.
Many dog breeders raise their dogs in filthy conditions, he said, adding that breeders either throw or give away dogs to shelters that are unable to breed anymore.
“They [breeders] reap the profits and leave the problem to society,” Huang said.
“It is taxpayers who end up having to deal with the problem, while the animals go through tremendous suffering. We therefore call on those who trade in pets to pay a special charge specifically meant to enhance animal welfare,” Huang added.
Turning to the importance of having an “animal protection police,” EAST executive director Chu Tseng-hong (朱增宏) said at present animal protection personnel did not have the power to arrest individuals who engage in animal cruelty or the authority to control traffic when an animal is involved in a car accident.
The Council of Agriculture said in a statement that whether there should be an animal protection police was up to local governments to decide.
The Taipei City Government is the only local government that has a specific administrative authority to protect animal rights, it said, adding that few local administrations had the finances to do so.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS