Yes to potential leash law
Reading through your articles online, I was so pleased to see that leash laws are on the agenda (“Kaohsiung mulls new leash laws,” Dec. 6, page 2). It is my wish that the law passes, as it is one of my biggest concerns living in southern Taiwan.
Coming from Canada — where leashes are mandatory — to this area where dogs are allowed to freely roam the streets, comes as quite a shock. There seems to be little to no animal control. I was happy to read the article because I firmly believe that leashes protect civilians and other animals.
Also, we have to face the fact that some people do not know how to control aggression. Some of these pets are disasters waiting to happen. There have been numerous times, while walking my dog — on a leash — that I have come into contact with nasty canines. Most of them leave you alone when you threaten them, but what about children? How many kids need to be bitten before everyone wakes up and realizes that leash laws are a must? What is the use of yelling at your dog after it has injured someone or another dog? The damage has been done.
We can also assume that most dog owners that allow their pets to run around freely do not clean up after their pets. I doubt that they would follow their dogs’ steps in order to clean up the poo. So in essence, the leash law helps with the laws pertaining to cleaning up after your dogs.
If we take Canada, the US and many other developed democratic countries as an example, we can see that the majority have instituted leash laws. These laws protect the dogs, their owners and everyone else who comes in contact with them. Thus, I am very pleased to hear about Greater Kaohsiung considering implementing leash laws, but I will be even happier when I see it become law.
SCOTT INGRAM
Kaohsiung
The EU’s biggest banks have spent years quietly creating a new way to pay that could finally allow customers to ditch their Visa Inc and Mastercard Inc cards — the latest sign that the region is looking to dislodge two of the most valuable financial firms on the planet. Wero, as the project is known, is now rolling out across much of western Europe. Backed by 16 major banks and payment processors including BNP Paribas SA, Deutsche Bank AG and Worldline SA, the platform would eventually allow a German customer to instantly settle up with, say, a hotel in France
On August 6, Ukraine crossed its northeastern border and invaded the Russian region of Kursk. After spending more than two years seeking to oust Russian forces from its own territory, Kiev turned the tables on Moscow. Vladimir Putin seemed thrown off guard. In a televised meeting about the incursion, Putin came across as patently not in control of events. The reasons for the Ukrainian offensive remain unclear. It could be an attempt to wear away at the morale of both Russia’s military and its populace, and to boost morale in Ukraine; to undermine popular and elite confidence in Putin’s rule; to
A traffic accident in Taichung — a city bus on Sept. 22 hit two Tunghai University students on a pedestrian crossing, killing one and injuring the other — has once again brought up the issue of Taiwan being a “living hell for pedestrians” and large vehicle safety to public attention. A deadly traffic accident in Taichung on Dec. 27, 2022, when a city bus hit a foreign national, his Taiwanese wife and their one-year-old son in a stroller on a pedestrian crossing, killing the wife and son, had shocked the public, leading to discussions and traffic law amendments. However, just after the
With escalating US-China competition and mutual distrust, the trend of supply chain “friend shoring” in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fragmentation of the world into rival geopolitical blocs, many analysts and policymakers worry the world is retreating into a new cold war — a world of trade bifurcation, protectionism and deglobalization. The world is in a new cold war, said Robin Niblett, former director of the London-based think tank Chatham House. Niblett said he sees the US and China slowly reaching a modus vivendi, but it might take time. The two great powers appear to be “reversing carefully
RSS