The Kaohsiung County Govern-ment arranged an unusual wedding yesterday, in which the brides and grooms were stray dogs.
The wedding, held in Fengshan City, was one of a series of official activities designed to call attention to animal protection. Organizers encouraged people to never abandon their pets and to have their dogs both registered and electronically tagged.
The participants in the wedding were stray dogs that were up for adoption.
Following the wedding and a question-and-answer game about raising dogs, officials from the Kaohsiung County Animal Disease Control Center encouraged residents to adopt strays.
The center even offered free vaccinations, chip-tagging and a examinations for heartworm disease (
Veterinarians said heartworm is a serious illnesses that plagues strays.
The officials said that more than 25,000 dogs in the county have been electronically tagged since 1988. The center has injected identification chips and vaccinated some 1,500 stray dogs raised at 11 private shelters.
The work has been funded under a local government project and is expected to finish at the end of this year.
"We sincerely hope that all of the stray dogs at the private shelters will be adopted. Spending money on them now will make it convenient for us to trace them and take care of their health after they are adopted and registered," said Ko Sun-yu (柯尚余), the center's director, yesterday.
Ko said that officials in the county use compatible tags and scanners in order to avoid failure in decoding the information contained in tags.
Animal protection activists had previously complained that a number of different tag and scanner systems were in use in Taiwan, making it difficult to identify electronically tagged dogs.
Because stray dogs that are captured by local pounds are normally put to sleep one week after they are found, Ko said that many volunteer organizations in the county take the dogs in to care for them.
But those shelters are only able to accommodate some 1,500 strays, Ko said.
"What we animal disease officials do is ensure that the environmental conditions at such animal shelters are good enough," Ko said.
Chao Chi-hua (趙奇華), executive-general of the Kaohsiung County Stray Animal Protection Association, said yesterday that health issues are of particular importance in the care of stray dogs.
"Health examinations for dogs should be carried out regularly because illness such as skin infections can quickly spread inside shelters," Chao said.
Chao, who has devoted herself to taking care of stray dogs for two decades, said that the association spends at least NT$200,000 per month on taking care of some 700 stray dogs housed at two sites in the remote mountain area of Chishan township (旗山).
The organization is supported financially by Chao's husband and various residents.
Chao said that she would like to see all dogs adopted by caring people.
If anyone regrets adopting a dog, Chao said, the individual would be welcome to take the dog to her shelter.
"That way it would prevent the dog from being on the streets again," Chao said.
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