The stray dog problem will never be resolved until the public learns to stop dumping unwanted pets, academics said at a public forum on animal welfare yesterday.
Most people assume that stray dogs are proliferating because the vast majority of strays are not neutered, said Fei Chang-yung (
Debunking the myth, Fei said that a lack of food sources and the high incidence of canine distemper meant it would be hard for puppies to survive long past weaning without human assistance.
"It's true that strays breed, but most puppies they give birth to simply starve or die of illness," he said. "Most new strays are not born homeless but are abandoned."
To back up his claim, Fei pointed to research conducted by the Council of Agriculture (COA) showing that 16 percent of stray dogs in the country tested positive for rabies antibodies -- a sign that they had been inoculated against rabies at some point.
"We need to take care of the problem at the source -- - abandoned pets," Fei said. "Until that is done, all secondary efforts to control the stray dog population, including euthanization, TNR [trap, neuter and release] and rehoming will fail."
"We have gone from having no laws to enforce to having unenforced laws," veterinary science professor Yeh Li-son (
Yeh was referring to animal welfare statutes that call for pet animals to be registered and chipped, a measure which, if enforced, could lower the rate of abandoned pets.
Su Bi-ling (
Dogs are euthanized after a certain number of days in the shelter, or if they have skin disease over a certain percentage of their body. Su said she would like to see that changed to take a dog's age, general health and friendliness into account.
"Some aged dogs are better off euthanized early because they will never find another home," she said. "However, young dogs that can make good pets should be given another chance even if they have some treatable skin disease such as folliculitis."
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book
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