On the eve of review in the legislature of the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法), animal rights activists and a legislator yesterday urged the passage of an amendment prohibiting the manufacture and sale of animal traps.
Three three-legged dogs, which each had a limb amputated after being injured by traps, hopped into the legislature with animal rights activists at a press conference in the morning.
While showing pictures of various animals hurt or killed by steel-jaw leghold traps, the activists said the amendment must be passed to put an end to devices that threaten both animals and humans.
Photo: CNA
“We have been rescuing animals for 15 years, but now about 70 of the 100 cases of animal rescue we handle each month are animals hurt by traps,” Kaohsiung Concern Stray Animal Association chairperson Wang Hsiao-hua (王小華) said, adding that animal traps were now everywhere, even in bustling night markets near fruit booths and elementary school kitchens.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) said animal traps can be seen in rural, mountainous and metropolitan areas, adding there was insufficient police manpower to track illegal animal traps.
Wang said the numerous cases occurring every day were beyond their ability to prevent and that using animal traps was crueler than putting animals to sleep because they faced amputation or a long and painful death.
“The law already bans capturing animals with traps, so I don’t understand why it is still legal to sell them,” Wang said.
The Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法) bans the use of traps for catching wild animals. Violators are subject to a fine of up to NT$300,000. The Animal Protection Act says the use of traps to catch animals without permission can result in a fine of NT$15,000.
“Banning the source of animal traps is the basic solution,” Cheng said, adding that traps were already banned in several countries.
Pointing to a photograph of a dog with a paw crushed in a trap, Liza Milne, a member of the board of supervisors at Animals Taiwan, a non-profit organization promoting animal welfare in Taiwan, said: “This dog was found on a beach where many children often play. What if they ran into the traps?”
“Do we really want to wait until children get hurt by animal traps?” she asked.
“An animal hospital told me they rescue on average one dog or cat hurt by traps every week and this is only one hospital,” Milne said. “Living in the mountains, I often hear dogs moaning in pain after being trapped.”
Animal traps cost between NT$15 and NT$35 and can easily be bought by people of all ages, Milne said.
“The medical cost of rescuing a hurt animal is about NT$20,000 to NT$30,000, which results in many of the animals being put to death,” she said.
Formosan Black Bear Conservation Association chairperson Hwang Mei-hsiu (黃美秀) said eight of 15 of the Formosan black bears she observed over time on Yushan (玉山) had been injured by traps, as had several other endangered species.
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