As our car pulls into the compound of what appears to be a cluster of single-story ramshackle warehouses surrounded by banana trees, I try to hide my bewilderment. Upturned mattresses, discarded fans and wooden planks are piled on the ground. Strewn across picnic tables are wooden chopsticks, takeout boxes and canned food. A stern-looking middle-aged woman with knee-high rubber boots and a buzz cut is puffing away on a cigarette, while a black dog trails behind her, wagging its tail as she refills its drinking bowl.
Pingsi District (平溪) in New Taipei City is known for its picturesque mountain views and crisp air. Every year after the Lunar New Year, hundreds of thousands of visitors write their wishes on lanterns and send them up into the sky. But the small, rural farming district of 5,000 inhabitants has a big problem unknown to most visitors: stray animals.
It’s easy to dismiss the stern-looking woman as a crazy person who spends her days pottering around the mountains with her dog picking banana leaves. In fact, she has not just one pet, but 600 — around 500 dogs and 100 cats. She’s one of the few aixin mama (愛心媽媽) or “loving mothers” around Taiwan who have devoted their lives to rescuing and taking care of stray animals.
Photo: Dana Ter, Taipei Times
LOVING MOTHER
Even from inside the car, the smell of 600 animals is noticeable. The kennel houses mostly black and brown mutts, but also German Shepherd’s and dogs with two or three legs. Outside, a litter of black puppies with light brown patches whimper as I walk by, their big eyes staring inquisitively.
A Taipei native, Chang Hui-min (張慧敏) grew up disliking dogs. It was only after taking a job at a video rental shop in her 20s, where she met a breeder next door who gave her five dogs, that she eventually grew to love them.
Photo: Dana Ter, Taipei Times
“That’s when I realized that all dogs are beautiful in their own way and deserve to be given proper care,” Chang tells me, still puffing away on her cigarette while a fluffy white dog laps at her face.
Known as “Mama Chang” (張媽媽) within the community of rescuers and animal rights activists around northern Taiwan, she initially started as a volunteer for a program that helped to spay and neuter stray dogs. She felt sad releasing the dogs back onto the streets where they were susceptible to hunger, disease and mistreatment, so she started bringing them home. Six years ago, Chang opened the New Taipei City New Life Pet Shelter Association (新北市流浪貓狗再生保護協會) in Pingsi, and she’s never looked back.
Mama Chang now spends her days caring for the animals and driving down with five or six dogs to the Jianguo Flower Market (建國假日花市) in Taipei every weekend to try to put them up for adoption. Even then, it’s not easy as Chang needs to make sure that the families adopting will make suitable pet owners.
Photo: Dana Ter, Taipei Times
While Chang receives a steady flow of cash and food donations, and has amassed a team of volunteers, it’s for the most part a one-woman show. And like many rescuers, it’s dealing with people’s attitudes that Chang finds the most frustrating.
“When it comes to human relations, I’m honestly quite shocked at what people are capable of doing, but when it comes to dealing with dogs, I’m an expert,” Chang says.
Throughout the years that Chang has been living in Pingsi, she’s seen dogs abandoned by their owners on a daily basis because they were too old, infected with heart worms and skin diseases or simply not cute anymore. This is especially the case for black dogs as they are thought to bring bad luck.
As Chang’s reputation as a rescuer grew, so did her burden. Local residents will leave their dogs on the streets, knowing that Chang will rescue them.
“It’s like I’ve become a convenience,” Chang says. “This way, people know that they won’t have to meet me face to face.”
‘JOURNEY OF COMPASSION’
In a house 120km away, a red-haired woman lives with over a dozen dogs. Originally from South Africa, Nelie Aucamp is used to standing out from the crowd in Toufen City (頭份), in Miaoli County (苗栗). Like Chang, Aucamp’s life revolves around rescuing and fostering stray dogs that she keeps in her large backyard. Since quitting her job at an elementary school five years ago, Aucamp has worked as a private tutor for students while devoting the rest of her time to the dogs.
It started when a friend of Aucamp’s borrowed her car to rescue two dogs on the streets of Hsinchu City (新竹). After driving around for hours, they realized the near impossibility of finding a suitable government shelter for the dogs. She reached out to a couple of contacts and was told to visit an aixin mama shelter.
“I walked into their physically, emotionally and socially challenging world,” Aucamp tells me. “My heart explored and I couldn’t ever walk away from them and their dogs.”
Aucamp experiences many of the same frustrations as Mama Chang. Local residents will frequently remove her feeding stations, throw the food on the ground and destroy the water containers.
“It becomes a personal power struggle,” Aucamp says. “I accept it because it is their reality and I can see how uncomfortable they are with compassion.”
One such encounter was when Aucamp came across a mangled puppy with signs of severe neglect in a cage with rusted bars. She drove by a couple of times and discovered one day that the dog had disappeared. According to the owner, the puppy had jumped over a branch and hung herself. Not long after, a different dog — a blind one — was put in the cage.
Not able to bear it anymore, Aucamp asked the owners if she could stop by from time to time to help take care of the brown-and-black coated dog who she had named Sky. She later approached the SPCA but the case was dismissed since the signs of neglect were gone as a result of Aucamp’s feeding and cleaning. One night, upon discovering that Sky’s cage was filled with ants, Aucamp rushed him to the vet only to find out that he had heart worm disease. The owners, unwilling to foot the medical bill, gave Sky to Aucamp — although Aucamp is certain that they will put another puppy in the cage.
“My values have changed a lot during this journey of compassion,” Aucamp says. “It gives me pleasure to see the happiness of a dog who knows he or she is safe.”
RAISING AWARENESS
A major problem that rescuers like Mama Chang and Aucamp face is sustainability. Taking care of hundreds, or even dozens, of abandoned dogs almost single-handedly is not an easy feat. Where will the dogs go when Chang and Aucamp can no longer take care of them?
The most viable long-term solution is changing people’s attitudes through education awareness programs. One such animal rights activist who’s taking up the cause is American expat Mayumi Hu. Like Mama Chang and Aucamp, Hu was an unlikely advocate to become a champion for the rights of stray dogs. Moving to Taipei eight years ago with her family and two dogs, Hu was surprised to see abandoned puppies all over the city. After some research, she discovered some appalling facts — puppy mills, illegal traps used by farmers and the fact that up until recently, the task of catching stray dogs in Taipei was carried out by garbage collectors instead of properly trained animal control officers.
“The lack of understanding and training are often major reasons for abandonment, which is one of the causes of the exploding stray dog population,” Hu says.
In addition to volunteering at private shelters such as The Sanctuary, Hu started organizing educational talks at schools, inviting dog trainers and veterinarians to speak. One day, someone from the audience approached her to ask if she would like to appear on television. It turned out that he was the director of a TV program who wanted to film her charity activities. Since then, Hu has appeared on TVBS and DaAi TV.
Throughout the course of her work, Hu was touched to see so many individuals devote their lives to rescuing stray animals. But it also raised an unsettling question: “Why is it necessary for so many private individuals and animal lovers to drop what they do and start an association to rescue strays in Taiwan?” Hu asks.
She adds that the government should stop issuing fines to people who feed stray animals and crack down on illegal breeders instead, as well as those who are dumping their pets on the streets without spaying and neutering them. Also, more effort should also be put into encouraging people to adopt dogs from shelters.
“The government has the power,” Hu says. “But we volunteers have the passion to get this done.”
HOPE
As I talk to Mama Chang, a tiny, almost hairless white dog with big, bulging eyes sprawls itself on the picnic table, looking parched. Chang pats the dog’s head and he closes his eyes in contentment. She tells me that he’s almost 10 years old. Because of his age and looks, it’s almost certain that he — and other old, not-so-cute dogs — will never be adopted.
But, Mama Chang says, there are other ways of helping out. She says fostering the dogs, donating money, food and blankets, or even helping aixin mama’s update their social media accounts.
Despite the dire situation, the women are optimistic. Hu says it’s a promising sign that the Legislative Yuan has passed an amendment bill, to be put into effect by 2017, to prevent shelters from killing unclaimed stray animals after 12 days. Aucamp believes that more awareness will go a good way.
“Taiwanese culture is a very gentle culture,” Aucamp says. “Many Taiwanese do not believe me, but they have not been exposed to the aggression of Western culture — there is a lot of hope.”
On the drive down the mountain, I can’t stop thinking of the tiny, frail white dog with bulging eyes. He may never find someone to adopt him, but at least he was able to experience love and compassion for what may be the last years of his life.
For more information on the New Taipei City New Life Pet Shelter Association and how to help out, check www.facebook.com/taiwanchangmama
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