Taipei Times: What inspired you to film Taiwan's treatment of animals?
Chu Hsien-jer (
TT: Do you agree that treatment of animals has improved since 1996?
PHOTO: CHU HSIEN-JER
Chu: Yes. But there is still much to do. We have animal protection laws, but Taiwan's law enforcement is far from satisfactory.
TT: Tell us about some current problems impairing animal rights.
Chu: The problem of stray dogs results from the abandonment of pet dogs. People here lack respect for life and see animals as merely lifeless objects. I have found that many shoppers in night markets buy puppies as gifts for their loved ones, but the recipients are simply not prepared for keeping a dog. They dump the pet after it grows up to become less beautiful or because it is confirmed not to be a pedigree.
The father of a very good friend of mine has abandoned several pet dogs. One of them suffered from a skin disease and was repeatedly dumped after finding its way home. The family drove a long way to dump it in the end to make sure that it would never return.
Many vets have had to accept requests to cut the vocal chords of pet dogs whose owners can't stand their barking for fear that otherwise the dogs will be abandoned. People who live in apartment buildings and those who are not ready to have pets should never keep dogs in the first place.
TT: Give us some personal analysis of why people in Taiwan treat animals like this.
Chu: Taiwan is an extremely utilitarian society. Consider conversations with your friends and relatives. They are always about real estate prices and the stock market. Because people don't care about anything but economic development, they overlook animal rights. But how animals are treated is a reflection of the maturity, sophistication and harmony of a society.
TT: In what sense?
Chu: Animals do not reason like humans and cannot vote. But they have all sorts of feelings just like humans. The way people treat animals here shows that people lack respect and tolerance of others, especially the underprivileged. People here are preoccupied with money and resigned to the pressure to compete for their daily bread. It is rare that they consider the people at the bottom of society, let alone animal rights.
Sometimes abusing animals is a way for people to release their stress.
The army is a microcosm of society. When we were in the army and under great pressure, animal abuse was one way to relieve the stress. We tossed puppies into the air. My fellow recruits even put a dog into a spin dryer. I myself ate dog meat. As I shot the film, I sometimes felt like repenting.
I remember, on the other hand, a time when I was relaxed and I lived in the mountains and slept on the floor, a poisonous toad was licking my face. I simply got it out of the room without hurting it. I think that was because I was at ease.
The sympathy of people in Taiwan people has been suppressed during their socialization process. That human warmth, suffocated by greed needs to be dug out for a more harmonious society to emerge.
People in Taiwan treat others the way they treat animals. The violent verbal attack that cuts like an invisible knife in the legislature or on a call-in program is an example. They can't even respect the freedom of speech of others. Most legislators' faces are ugly because of their offensive minds.
People who lack tolerance for one another can hardly be expected to have respect for other species.
I hope my and other directors' documentaries can help with that problem by spreading a little kindness around. But sometimes I think that the audience may feel touched for an hour but the next day they still have to face the pressures of society. We need more media coverage of matters that touch human feelings.
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