Sun, Jan 04, 2015 page8

• A-ho death offers an opportunity for reform

  • By Du Yu 杜宇
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  Sky Zoo’s hippopotamus “A-ho” put Taiwan in the global media spotlight following the brouhaha after it was badly injured during transportation and ultimately died from the injuries it sustained. A-ho’s death is bound to damage the nation’s reputation for animal welfare.

  The recent deaths of a white whale, a dolphin, an alpaca and A-ho showcased the owners’ primary concern — money — and highlighted authorities’ woefully inadequate attitude toward animal rights law enforcement.

  The animals’ deaths should also prompt the public to consider animals welfare in environments such as zoos and aquariums.

  These settings are created to cater for human curiosity and for people to educate themselves about animals, but people should pay more attention to the importance of animal care and welfare, and acquire a proper appreciation of nature and its value.

  Mahatma Gandhi once said: “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”

  The government has never given due attention to animal welfare. Laws are slack and the enforcement of such laws even more so. Every time things go wrong, those in charge always evade responsibility by saying that there is no law regulating management. The media pay attention for a day or two and then move on to something else. That is why problems surrounding animal abuse are never solved and the nation’s reputation continues to suffer.

  Hippos, white whales, dolphins and manatees are protected animals. According to the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法), breeding, selling, importing, exporting or exhibiting protected animals requires approval by authorities. To apply for approval to breed and raise protected animals, an educational or academic research plan must be submitted. Breeding and raising must be undertaken in compliance with the regulations.

  The problem is that authorities fail to firmly enforce regulations. Even if mistreatment is exposed by individuals or animal-rights groups, authorities often impose a light penalty, and in some cases even defend the wrongdoer, rendering any punishment utterly ineffective.

  In light of criticism over recent incidents, the government should explain exactly how the importation of the alpaca and the white whale was approved and how the authorities followed up on the management of the animals.

  A-ho’s unnecessary death is by no means an isolated incident. The public should demand that the government act swiftly to fix shortcomings in the law. In addition to amending the law so that it safeguards animal rights and respects their existence, authorities should also conduct comprehensive investigations of the environments provided by a facility for its animals; its capacity to care properly for the animals; the nutritional wellbeing of the animals and the equipment provided by recreational farms and big aquariums — to make sure that they comply with regulations. Serious and repeat offenders should be shut down. It is time that authorities stopped taking their duties so lightly.

  Lastly, since people claim to be the only ones capable of making moral judgements, and since academics say that animal rights and animal rights movements go hand-in-hand with social evolution as whole, people should ponder if it is civilized behavior to imprison animals in confined spaces and ignore their needs simply because they want to look at them and be entertained by them from time to time.

  Du Yu is chief executive officer of the Chen-Li Task Force for Agricultural Reform.

  Translated by Ethan Zhan
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