If you have pets, you might want to bring them to 44 South Village (四四南村) tomorrow as there will be free checkups and a limited amount of free rabies shots and microchip implantations. If you want a pet, there will also be adoption stations for various animals. But don’t forget that these services are part of World Animal Day, where more than 30 animal welfare organizations will gather to educate the public on the plight of wildlife, livestock, lab animals and performing animals.
In addition, there will be booths with a variety of pet supplies and live music by Ma-te-Lin (林瑪黛), an electro-pop act whose lyrics often focus on animal issues such as the torture of circus animals, shelter euthanasia and puppy mills.
World Animal Day was started 91 years ago in Berlin. Since 1929, it has been held typically on Oct. 4, the feast day of Francis Assisi, patron saint of animals and the natural environment. In 1931, the day was officially adopted and made universal by the International Animal Protection Congress in Florence.
Photo courtesy OF TWAD
■ Xinyi Assembly Hall (信義公民會館) at 44 South Village (四四南村), 50, Songqin Rd, Taipei City (台北市松勤路50號).
■ Tomorrow from 1pm to 5pm; admission is free. Visit neolite77.wixsite.com/wad2016 for more information.
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
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