Undercover investigations conducted by an animal rights organization showed that many "pedigree dog" owners in the country have been scammed.
How much is that doggie in the window?
It all depends on whether it comes with a pedigree certificate, the the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST) said. Posing as amateur dog breeders, the group said it had gathered evidence of widespread pedigree certificate fraud.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
"I don't have a single dog, nor do I run a kennel, yet I managed to obtain these two pedigree certificates," EAST director Chen Yu-min (陳玉敏), who took part in the investigation, told a press conference yesterday.
The Canine Hip Dysplasia Association (CHDA), a pet owners' association, provided some examples of humorous inconsistencies arising from the indiscriminate issuing of fake certificates.
Nini the Maltese has two mothers and two fathers -- one pair for each of the two certificates the owner received. Nana and Lightbulb, both Pyrenean Mountain Dogs, have the same mother, but they were born a month apart.
EAST said that three registries, including the Hsinchu Dog Association, the China Kennel Club and the Taiwan Kennel Association, were willing to issue pedigree certificates for a dog, sight unseen.
"We did not have time to conclude our investigations before the story surfaced in the media and now other associations are on their guard," Chen said.
"Pedigrees exist so breeders can avoid inbreeding and make sure genetic defects do not get passed on," she said. "What those fake certificates are covering up is the appallingly poor practices of the dog-breeding industry in Taiwan."
Chen Mei-mei's (陳美梅) Golden Retriever was four months old when he started falling over.
"I felt terrible for him. It hurt his hip joints to walk," she said.
Over the years, Chen Mei-mei has spent more than NT$100,000 on her dog's rehabilitation, including full hip joint replacement therapies for both joints.
"When I found his pedigree certificate in a drawer I was clearing out, I threw it away. It was a useless piece of paper," she said.
She formed the CHDA for pet owners who discover that their purebred dogs have hip joint issues.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said that the Animal Protection Law (動物保護法) should be commended for uncovering this problem.
"Both pet owners and animals are wronged by this practice," Hsiao said, "the Council of Agriculture needs to take care of this problem."
However, Council of Agriculture Livestock Administration Division chief Huang Ying-hao (
"This is not news," said a veteran dog breeder who declined to be named.
"The problem with fake pedigrees has been clear to everyone in the dog-breeding industry for decades."
The breeder said she destroyed the pedigree certificates for her dogs when they die, even though they can be sold to unscrupulous accrediting associations.
The kennel associations in other countries are self-regulating, she said, but fat profits have proven too tempting for associations here. "They can make NT$500 for issuing a piece of paper," she said.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS