The documentary Twelve Days (十 二夜), which depicts the lives of dogs in a public animal shelter — in which dogs are put to death after 12 days if they are not adopted — held its premier in Taipei yesterday, calling on people to think carefully before adopting pets, rather than adopting and then abandoning them.
With no spoken dialogue, the film uses camera angles to show the lives of dogs in the animal shelter from the dogs’ viewpoints, from when they are brought to the shelter until they are taken to be put to death, as well as rarely seen moments from early in the morning before the staff arrive and late at night, after the workers have all gone home.
“Many people have the mistaken idea that sending stray animals that they find on the streets directly to animal shelters is the best thing to do for them, but actually they will have only 12 days to live if no one adopts them,” film director Raye (who goes by a single English name) said.
Photo: Wang Wen-lin, Taipei Times
“More than 70,000 animals, mostly dogs, are put to death at public shelters in Taiwan every year, at an average of about 200 dogs per day,” she said, expressing hopes that the movie can motivate more people to help share the responsibility for taking good care of animals and to reduce the numbers of animals put to death.
A woman who adopted one of the dogs, which features prominently in the documentary — an elderly beagle — said: “Actually, I find it easier to adopt an elderly dog from the animal shelter, because they may have been pets to other people in the past, so the dog I adopted was quite stable and did not behave wildly like puppies do.”
The film’s executive producer, Giddens Ko (柯景騰), better known by his pseudonym Jiubadao (九把刀), said they have decided to donate all the box office earnings, excluding the fee for theaters and tax, to animal welfare groups to help stray animals.
The documentary is to be shown in theaters from Friday.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost