Animal activists yesterday called on the Ministry of Justice to help push the cell dog program — in which inmates are taught to train stray dogs so that the dogs can be prepared for adoption — saying that the program has proven successful abroad and significantly lowers re-offending rates.
“In the cell dog program, inmates are taught to be professional dog trainers and teach stray dogs basic obedience,” Taiwan Cell Dogs Program founder Cathy Tai (戴昌儀) said.
Not only do the stray dogs get a second chance at life, since with the training they have a better chance of being adopted instead of being put down, Tai said, “Inmates in turn have love and compassion reintroduced into their lives, because, as most stray dogs have been abandoned or mistreated, the inmates have to exert extra patience and love to reach out to the dogs.”
PHOTO: CNA
Tai, a music teacher at Taipei’s Jinou Girls High school, said that she first learned about cell dogs three years ago from a TV program on Animal Planet, which featured 11 US prisons running the program.
“The cell dog program was invented by Sister Pauline Queens in 1981 and has been running in US prisons for more than two decades. Statistics show that they reduce recidivism by 60 percent,” Tai said.
In the cells, inmates involved in the program also demonstrate better behavior and less violence than those who aren’t, she said.
The program is now helping rehabilitate inmates in all 50 states of the US, Italy, the UK, Japan, Korea and many other countries, she said, adding. “In the US, some of the dogs have even been trained to be guide dogs.”
In Taiwan, volunteer veterinarians from National Pingtung University of Science and Technology began treating stray dogs three years ago. They then sent the dogs to Hsinchu City Jail for inmates to train, Tai said.
A total of 18 dogs have been adopted so far, Tai said, and hundreds of people are now on the prison’s waiting list for dogs.
“This is a social program that benefits society as a whole. In addition to the benefits to the strays and inmates, people can reap the benefits of improved public safety,” she said.
However, Tai said that currently Hsinchu is the only jail out of the nation’s 23 jails to have adopted the program, adding that it faces obstacles because “most prison wardens feel that it is extra work for them.”
As such, Tai called on the Ministry of Justice to back the program by making it eligible for part of the prison wardens’ annual job performance review, adding that it could also be a part of inmates’ parole evaluations.
“Meanwhile, my group of volunteers will continue to fundraise for the cause so that this program can carry on long-term,” she said.
To learn more about cell dogs, visit the program’s bilingual Web site at www.celldog.tw.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS