Pet ownership registration
According to Article 19 of the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法), certain breeds of pets, as specified by the central authority, are subject to compulsory registration with the government.
Owners are required to register the birth, acquisition, transfer, loss and death of such pets with a local authority.
However, problems concerning the ownership of a pet often occur when it is a stray found on the streets that has been raised by more than one owner or transferred from one owner to another.
The registration of the pet could lead to more problems in situations such as when the original owner has failed to apply for a change to the registration, when the pet has been adopted by several owners, and when the original owner cannot be reached or refuses to deal with the matter. If the owner goes abroad or insures the pet, more problems can occur.
Theoretically, pets are considered an object in the Civil Code, which determines how legal actions proceed related their ownership or possession.
The purpose of registration is to ensure that pet owners take full responsibility as a caretaker. It is a way of regulating the owners, but it is ineffective when a pet caretaker is not registered as the owner.
When the caretaker cannot get in touch with the registered owner, or the original owner does not want to transfer the legal ownership, the rights of the pet can be easily contravened, leaving it unprotected.
Regarding unclear ownership, the caretaker of a pet can ask an animal shelter to intervene and complete the legal process of claiming ownership.
In this case, the pet would have to stay at a shelter for some time. The shelter would try to inform the registered owner within three days, and if the original owner is found, that person is entitled to reclaim the pet within seven days.
If not reclaimed, the pet would be made available for adoption, but the caretaker of the pet would not be given first choice in the adoption.
At the same time, the registered owner can also adopt the pet, and in the worst case scenario is that the pet would be abandoned again.
This would be unbearable for the caretaker. For the pet, the entire procedure is meaningless and stressful.
The purpose of the pet ownership regulations is to ensure that owners take care of their pets as long as they should, but, when the registered ownership is transferred, changing the legal registration step-by-step is unnecessary.
Instead, animal protection agencies could help complete the process, confirming that the new owners’ reason for owning the pet is legitimate and their intent is not malicious. The pet then could be kept by the new owner, and if the original owner does not oppose the transfer within seven days, the new owner should have the right to change the registration unilaterally.
In this way, pets could stay with the people who truly care for them. Only by doing so would the Animal Protection Act be meaningful.
Fu Yen-wen
Taipei
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