The Hsinchu City Council on Thursday passed an ordinance that aims to prevent animal abuse by imposing fines on employers of people who have killed or eaten cats and dogs.
The Hsinchu Self-government Ordinance on Animal Protection (新竹市動物保護自治條例) was proposed by Council Speaker Hsu Siou-ruei (許修睿) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and cosponsored by 19 city councilors.
It passed the first reading on Tuesday and was reviewed during an extraordinary session on Thursday.
Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times
The regulation aims to improve animal protection following a series of animal abuse cases, Hsu said.
Under the ordinance, owners are required to use a leash, carrier or other protective measures when taking their dog to a public venue, or any place where members of the public may enter, or be subject to a fine of NT$3,000 to NT$15,000.
The regulation also requires employers to educate their employees on animal abuse prevention.
If an employee is found to have trapped, killed or eaten a cat or dog after their employer failed to provide related information, in addition to the employee being fined for animal abuse, the employer would be subject to a fine of NT$15,000 to NT$75,000.
While the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法) already bans the manufacturing, display and sale of steel-jaw traps, the ordinance would ban the possession of such traps unless their use has been approved by regulatory authorities.
To reduce the number of such traps, a buyback program would be implemented, the regulation says.
The ordinance is “an important step toward making Hsinchu a more animal-friendly city,” Wang Wang Stray Animal Association president Yang Ying-ping (楊穎蘋) said.
The regulation could provide protection for animals where the Animal Protection Act does not, said Chang Yu-jung (張育榕), a painter and animal protection advocate.
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
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
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai