Public animal shelters in eight municipalities last year received more animals than their capacities allowed, which an animal rights advocate said was due to official negligence in the run-up to the Nov. 24 local elections.
Public shelters in Taipei, Tainan, Taoyuan, Chiayi City and Hsinchu, Nantou, Yunlin and Pingtung counties have been housing more animals than they were designed for, Council of Agriculture data for November last year showed.
The Taipei shelter housed a total of 1,120 animals, almost double its maximum capacity of 610, the data showed.
Photo: Huang Chung-shan, Taipei Times
Shelters in Taichung and Kaohsiung, as well as Chiayi, Penghu and Kinmen counties, were at more than 90 percent capacity, the data showed.
Overcrowding at public animal shelters has been a problem since the implementation of a “no-kill” policy on Feb. 6, 2017, Council of Agriculture Department of Animal Industry Deputy Director Wang Chung-shu (王忠恕) said yesterday.
The no-kill policy stems from an amendment to Article 12, Paragraph 7 of the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法) passed in 2015, which previously stated that shelters could put down stray animals not adopted after 12 days in shelters.
After the amendment took effect in 2017, public shelters could only kill animals that have incurable diseases or infectious conditions, or pose great danger to public safety.
Instead of building more shelters, which is difficult in urban areas such as Taipei, the council has pushed local shelters to improve accommodation quality, promote adoption and neuter stray animals to reduce their numbers, Wang said.
Many local governments last year neglected their duties to supervise animal shelters, because they were preoccupied with the elections, Taiwan Animal Protection Monitor Network executive director Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) said, but added that New Taipei City, Tainan and Taitung municipal authorities made a better effort.
Shelters should control the number of animals they house by only catching those that threaten people’s lives, he said.
In addition to reducing numbers of stray animals through the the “trap-neuter-return” program, the government should encourage animal adoption through diversified channels, including training dogs to guard schools, police stations and farms, Ho said.
Campaigners have called on the government to raise the penalty for people abandoning pets, who currently face a fine of NT$30,000 to NT$150,000.
However, Wang said that heavier fines would be disproportionate and improving animal protection education would be more effective than harsher punishments.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all