The suspected suicide of a veterinarian by animal euthanasia drugs has prompted authorities to reconsider an animal euthanasia policy, officials said yesterday, offering condolences and reaffirming a zero animal euthanasia policy that is expected to be implemented next year.
Chien Chih-cheng (簡稚澄), the director of an animal shelter in Taoyuan’s Sinwu District (新屋), allegedly committed suicide using animal euthanasia drugs on May 5.
The news of her death only became public on Friday last week, triggering a wave of condolence messages online, along with messages of concern for stray animals.
Chien allegedly left a note saying that while she was a passionate animal lover, she was extremely disturbed by having to euthanize animals and took her own life as a message that “all lives are equal” in the hope that the government would put more effort into managing stray animals.
Taoyuan City Councilor Wang Hao-yu (王浩宇) said Chien was under immense stress due to misinformed criticism directed at her and the shelter.
“Some animal welfare activists have unleashed relentless attacks on the Sinwu shelter and Chien was a target of those attacks. She was even described as a ‘butcher.’ For a young woman who chose to work at the shelter because of her love for animals and whose duties involved euthanizing stray animals every day, those abuses were like stabs to the heart,” Wang wrote on Facebook.
The “zero euthanasia” policy — which is planned for implementation next year — is likely to exhaust animal shelters with limited capacity and resources, as pet abandonment rates and stray animal reproduction rates have yet to be substantially reduced, veterinarian Kung Chien-chia (龔建嘉) said.
“Zero euthanasia is a false policy if there are no supportive measures to reduce pet abandonment rates to zero. Shelters have limited spaces, personnel and resources, but the number of admitted animals will keep increasing. The false policy — which the government created for better publicity regardless of an animal’s situation — will cause more pain to animals,” Kung said.
The Council of Agriculture yesterday expressed regret over Chien’s death, with council minister Tsao Chi-hung (曹啟鴻) offering condolences to the Chien family.
The council said it understood the plight of animal shelters and would seek improvements.
Following an amendment to the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法) in February, 33 public animal shelters will have to stop euthanizing animals in February next year, which could overload shelters. The government plans to invest NT$190 million (US$5.8 million) in increasing shelter capacity and improving animal protection by 2018, the council said.
The stray animal adoption rate has increased from 28.7 percent in 2012 to 70.4 percent, with 550,000 animals adopted last year, while shelter animal euthanasia rates were reduced from 50.1 percent in 2012 to 12 percent last year, the council said, adding that the government and the public need to work together to face the challenge of stray animal management.
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: A US Air Force KC-135 tanker came less than 1,000 feet of an EVA plane and was warned off by a Taipei air traffic controller, a report said A US aerial refueling aircraft came very close to an EVA Airways jet in the airspace over southern Taiwan, a military aviation news Web site said. A report published by Alert 5 on Tuesday said that automatic dependent surveillance–broadcast (ADS-B) data captured by planfinder.net on Wednesday last week showed a US Air Force KC-135 tanker “coming less than 1,000 feet [305m] vertically with EVA Air flight BR225 as both aircraft crossed path south of Taiwan” that morning. The report included an audio recording of a female controller from the Taipei air traffic control center telling the unidentified aircraft that it was
A US aircraft carrier group led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt has entered the South China Sea to promote “freedom of the seas,” the US military said yesterday, as tensions between China and Taiwan raise concerns in Washington. US Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement that the strike group entered the South China Sea on Saturday, the same day Taiwan reported a large incursion of Chinese bombers and fighter jets into its air defense identification zone near the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). The US military said the carrier strike group was in the South China Sea, a large part of which
STRATEGIC MISTAKE: Beijing’s deployment of aircraft near Taiwan proves the ‘China threat theory’ that sees it attempting to destabilize the region, an analyst said China on Saturday and yesterday sent a record number of military aircraft into the nation’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), in what analysts said was an attempt to flex its military might for US President Joe Biden. Thirteen Chinese warplanes flew into Taiwan’s southwestern ADIZ on Saturday and 15 entered yesterday, the highest number observed in a single day this year, the Ministry of National Defense said. On Saturday, eight Xian H-6K bombers, four Shenyang J-16 fighters and a Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft, entered the ADIZ, while yesterday there were two Y-8s, two Su-30s, four J-16s, six J-10 fighters and a Y-8 reconnaissance
DISPOSING MYTHS: A new constitution would better reflect reality, as the current one was drafted ‘in and for China,’ without the consent of Taiwanese, advocates said Independence advocates yesterday launched the Taiwan New Constitution Alliance to promote drafting a new, localized constitution. “This is a historic moment for Taiwan. Drafting a new constitution is the most important task Taiwanese face,” veteran independence advocate Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) said at the inaugural event in Taipei. “Although the Democratic Progressive Party is in power, its authority is based on the Republic of China [ROC] Constitution, which has no connection to Taiwan,” said the 95-year-old Koo, a former presidential adviser. “The historic task of drafting a new constitution depends on efforts by all Taiwanese,” Koo said. “A constitution for a sovereign, independent Taiwan
RSS