A Taichung city councilor and animal rights groups yesterday slammed the Taichung City Government for its inaction over an animal shelter incident earlier this week that involved dogs eating the bodies of other dogs.
Dogs kept in the animal shelter in Taichung were found on Sunday to be feeding on the carcasses of other dogs out of hunger, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taichung City Councilor Tseng Chao-jung (
Tseng said that the incident was indicative of the lack of management at the shelter.
Tseng noted that the Environmental Protection Agency personnel in Taichung were under immense pressure to capture stray dogs to meet performance records.
According to the city's regulations, they must catch 45 dogs a day, which adds up to over a thousand dogs per month, said Huang Pi-chu (黃璧珠), head of the Taichung Universal Animal Protection Association.
Dogs caught by the agency are sent to the Taichung City Animal Health Inspection Center, Tseng said. However, there is not enough room at the animal shelter to accommodate all the strays.
Huang said that city regulations mandate that a dog brought to the shelter has to be treated for diseases and has a seven-day window for adoption.
However, owing to the large number of dogs at the shelter, not only did they not have enough food to eat, most were put to sleep before the seven-day period was over, Huang said.
Wu Lung-tai (
Animal rights advocate Chen Chien-chung (
Chen made the remarks in reference to China's offer of a pair of pandas to Taiwan following then-chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Lien Chan's (
While the Taiwanese government has not accepted the offer, both the Taipei and Taichung city governments have actively sought to house the pandas.
Both Tseng and Huang said they were displeased with the environmental department's attitude and that changes have not been made so far.
Tseng said that the shelter remained unkempt and local animal rights activists are gathering next Thursday to protest.
Huang said that the city did not have an especially large number of stray dogs compared with other cities in the country.
"The dogcatchers just capture every dog they see on the street, even house pets," she said.
"They say they only take the larger ones for safety reasons, but when we went to to the shelter, we saw only one dog that was over 15kg," she added.
Tseng said the only way to improve the situation is to have better regulations governing stray dogs.
The central and local governments should promote the usage of implanted identification chips for pets, he said.
The public also need to be taught not to abandon their pets, Tseng said.
A NT$39 receipt for two bottles of tea at a FamilyMart was among the NT$10 million (US $312,969) special prize winners in the January-February uniform invoice lottery. FamilyMart said that two NT$10 million-winning receipts were issued at its stores, as well as two NT$2 million grand prizes and three NT$200,000 first prizes. The two NT$10 million receipts were issued at stores in Pingtung County and Yilan County’s Dongshan Township (冬山). One winner spent just NT$39 on two bottles of tea, while another spent NT$80 on water, tea and coffee, the company said. Meanwhile, 7-Eleven reported three NT$10 million winners — in New Taipei
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
RSS