A Taichung city councilor and animal rights groups yesterday slammed the Taichung City Government for its inaction over an animal shelter incident earlier this week that involved dogs eating the bodies of other dogs.
Dogs kept in the animal shelter in Taichung were found on Sunday to be feeding on the carcasses of other dogs out of hunger, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taichung City Councilor Tseng Chao-jung (
Tseng said that the incident was indicative of the lack of management at the shelter.
Tseng noted that the Environmental Protection Agency personnel in Taichung were under immense pressure to capture stray dogs to meet performance records.
According to the city's regulations, they must catch 45 dogs a day, which adds up to over a thousand dogs per month, said Huang Pi-chu (黃璧珠), head of the Taichung Universal Animal Protection Association.
Dogs caught by the agency are sent to the Taichung City Animal Health Inspection Center, Tseng said. However, there is not enough room at the animal shelter to accommodate all the strays.
Huang said that city regulations mandate that a dog brought to the shelter has to be treated for diseases and has a seven-day window for adoption.
However, owing to the large number of dogs at the shelter, not only did they not have enough food to eat, most were put to sleep before the seven-day period was over, Huang said.
Wu Lung-tai (
Animal rights advocate Chen Chien-chung (
Chen made the remarks in reference to China's offer of a pair of pandas to Taiwan following then-chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Lien Chan's (
While the Taiwanese government has not accepted the offer, both the Taipei and Taichung city governments have actively sought to house the pandas.
Both Tseng and Huang said they were displeased with the environmental department's attitude and that changes have not been made so far.
Tseng said that the shelter remained unkempt and local animal rights activists are gathering next Thursday to protest.
Huang said that the city did not have an especially large number of stray dogs compared with other cities in the country.
"The dogcatchers just capture every dog they see on the street, even house pets," she said.
"They say they only take the larger ones for safety reasons, but when we went to to the shelter, we saw only one dog that was over 15kg," she added.
Tseng said the only way to improve the situation is to have better regulations governing stray dogs.
The central and local governments should promote the usage of implanted identification chips for pets, he said.
The public also need to be taught not to abandon their pets, Tseng said.
‘JOINT SWORD’: Whatever President Lai says in his Double Ten speech, China would use it as a pretext to launch ‘punishment’ drills for his ‘separatist’ views, an official said China is likely to launch military drills this week near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming national day speech as a pretext to pressure the nation to accept its sovereignty claims, Taiwanese officials said. China in May launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan shortly after Lai’s inauguration, in what Beijing said was a response to “separatist acts,” sending heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated Lai. The May drills were dubbed “Joint Sword — 2024A” and drew concerns from capitals, including Washington. Lai is to deliver a key speech on Thursday in front of the Presidential Office
Taiwan was listed in 14th place among the world's wealthiest country in terms of GDP per capita, in the latest rankings released on Monday by Forbes magazine. Taiwan's GDP per capita was US$76,860, which put it at No. 14 on the list of the World's 100 Richest Countries this year, one spot above Hong Kong with US$75,130. The magazine's list of the richest countries in the world is compiled based on GDP per capita data, as estimated by the IMF. However, for a more precise measure of a nation's wealth, the magazine also considers purchasing power parity, which is a metric used to
Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) shopping area welcomed the most international visitors, followed by Taipei 101, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park and Yangmingshan National Park (陽明山國家公園), a list of the city’s most popular tourist attractions published by the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism showed. As of August, 69.22 million people had visited Taipei’s main tourism spots, a 76 percent increase from 39.33 million in the same period last year, department data showed. Ximending had 20.21 million visitors, followed by Taipei 101 at 8.09 million, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park at 6.28 million, Yangmingshan at 4.51 million and the Red House Theater (西門紅樓) in
NINTH MONTH: There were 11,792 births in Taiwan last month and 15,563 deaths, or a mortality rate of 8.11 per 1,000 people, household registration data showed Taiwan’s population was 23,404,138 as of last month, down 2,470 from August, the ninth consecutive month this year that the nation has reported a drop, the Ministry of the Interior said on Wednesday. The population last month was 162 fewer than the same month last year, a decline of 0.44 per day, the ministry said, citing household registration data. Taiwan reported 11,792 births last month, or 3.7 births per day, up 149 from August, it said, adding that the monthly birthrate was 6.15 per 1,000 people. The jurisdictions with the highest birthrates were Yunlin County at 14.62 per 1,000 people, Penghu County (8.61
RSS