Regulation
According to Yen I-feng (嚴一峰), Director of the Taipei Municipal Institute for Animal Health (臺北市動物衛生檢驗所), the municipal body that enforces and regulates the Animal Protection Law (動物保護法), there are 69 legal and roughly double that amount of illegal stores across Taipei selling pets. With this many stores, animal protection officers have their hands full trying to regulate pet stores and enforce the law. Many problem animals come from the illegal pet shops.
According to an animal protection officer, who spoke to the Taipei Times on condition of anonymity, it is often difficult for consumers to distinguish between legitimate and illegal pet shops. Indeed, the officer is frank about the ineffectiveness of the Animal Protection Law in curbing the problem of illegal pet shops.
"Some salons or pet stores that sell pet supplies will put cages with puppies inside but they [won't] put up price signs or a notice saying they are [for sale]. And we will ask them what the purpose is of the puppies. [The owners] say 'they are mine.'" There is little animal protection officers can do when proprietors give this kind of answer because it is difficult to prove that the store is selling animals if there is no price tag on the cage.
The officer says increasing education about animal care — and by extension animal rights — is the best way to reduce the number of illegal outlets selling pets. Consumers should first consider going to shelters before going to a pet store to purchase an animal, the officer said.
Alternatives
Yen agrees. His organization spends a lot of time educating members of the public about the importance of pet ownership and pet problems. His conclusion: It's better to adopt a dog from a place like the Taipei Animal Shelter (臺北市動物之家) in Neihu, than it is to buy one at a pet store.
If the nature of the pet store business is to turn a profit rather than care for animals, with shelters the reverse is true. And though shelters in Taiwan often receive bad press, the more consumers take an interest in the condition and treatment of animals, the more shelters can fill the niche of providing animals to the public.
Sean McCormack of Animals Taiwan, an animal rescue operation located in Shilin, says adopting a pet from shelters offers many benefits that aren't apparent in pet stores.
"There's actually nothing wrong with pet stores," he says, "provided they don't sell pets." McCormack says selling pet clothes, toys, leashes and other pet-related products is a viable way of making a living. But with a huge population of feral animals and shelters offering dogs for free or at extremely low prices, there is no need for pet stores to be selling animals.
He adds that people working at pet shelters aren't interested in making a profit and generally love animals. The corollary is shelter staff and volunteers will often know the animal's personalities and can help the consumer make the right match. If the consumer is interested in a prize breed, they should consider a shelter because as dogs grow older and the responsibility for their upkeep increases people often abandon them.
"The last time I was at the shelter in Neihu, I saw about five golden retrievers," he said. With 300 cages full of animals at the Neihu facility, there is obviously a huge selection of canines to choose from. And once a pet is adopted, it frees up room for other dogs, he said.
RSS