A ban on euthanizing stray animals is to be implemented on Feb.4 which would see abandoned pets or animals born as strays no longer being put to death if they are not adopted from government-run shelters.
Last year, about 70,000 animals ended up at the shelters and each year about 10,000 are put down when they are not adopted, while several thousand more die from other causes, such as injuries and illnesses.
The ban comes after the government has long been criticized for not doing enough to deal with the nation’s pet abandonment problem, but over the years, many unsung heroes have been quietly giving their time and energy to helping stray animals.
One of them, Briton Liza Milne, 42, has lived in Taiwan since she was 20. She works as an English teacher, but spends her spare time as an animal rescuer and volunteer at shelters run by non-governmental organizations that save and care for stray animals.
For about 11 years she has volunteered as chairperson, events and sponsorship coordinator and a rescuer at Animals Taiwan — a non-governmental organization that has saved hundreds of sick or injured stray dogs and cats — by finding them homes.
It also cares for up to 70 of them awaiting adoption at its shelter.
Last year, Milne also became a full-time volunteer for Mary’s Doggies, a shelter that rescues strays and finds homes for them in the US or Canada.
Council of Agriculture officials said they are increasing the budget for animal control workers to spay and neuter strays, as well as enforcing microchip rules.
All government-run shelters would require anyone who wants to abandon their pet to pay a fee, although the fee is relatively small in many cases, the council said.
Advocates say much more needs to be done to encourage pet owners to spay or neuter their animals and to fine them if they do not.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching