A private organization yesterday teamed up with the Taipei City Government to launch a Web site to help reunite pet owners with lost pets and to provide a venue for prospective pet owners to adopt stray animals.
The Help-Save-A-Pet Fund Taiwan (流浪動物之家基金會) yesterday launched its Web site which includes, among other things, information on stray animals temporarily housed at the city's Taipei Municipal Institute for Animal Health (台北市動物檢驗所) and its commissioned veterinary hospitals.
The Web site, which is updated every day, posts information on each animal for a period of seven days. If, after that period, no one shows interest in adopting the animal, it will be put to sleep.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
Taipei Deputy Mayor Bai Hsiu-hsiung (
"Modern technology has made locating lost pets more convenient. People no longer need to place a lost-and-found ad in the newspapers, nor make the effort to post flyers around their neighborhood to locate their lost pets," Bai said.
Lily Wang (
"Dogs are living creatures just like you and me. If you treat them well, they'll repay your kindness more than you can imagine."
Wang, who started to care for stray dogs 13 years ago, formed the foundation in 1994. It keeps about 500 stray dogs on its approximately 3,300m2 lot in Taipei County's Kungliao (
Holding his dog in his hands, Jeff Locker, an entertainer and the spokesperson for the activity, said the problem of the city's stray dogs is due to people's negligence.
"[The problem] lies in the people," he said. "Before you decide to keep a pet, you must realize that it's a lifetime commitment. You just can't abandon a pet because it's no longer cute."
The city currently has an estimated 18,000 stray dogs.
Since the Animal Protection Law (
Statistics show that Taipei's dog adoption rate was the highest in the nation -- up from 16 percent in 1998 to 35 percent in 1999. The 1999 neutering rate for domestic dogs also ranked the highest in the country -- reaching 30 percent.
The institute also says the number of stray dogs put to sleep is the fifth-lowest among the nation's 23 counties and cities -- about 800 per month or 10,000 per year.
For more information, visit the foundation's Web site at http://www.hsapf.org.tw
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
UNPRECEDENTED: In addition to the approved recall motions, cases such as Ma Wen-chun’s in Nantou are still under review, while others lack enough signatures The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced yesterday that a recall vote would take place on July 26, after it approved the first batch of recall motions targeting 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安). Taiwan is in the midst of an unprecedented wave of mass recall campaigns, following a civil society push that echoed a call made by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in January to initiate signature drives aimed at unseating KMT legislators. Under the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), Taiwanese can initiate a recall of district-elected lawmakers by collecting