Animal protection activists yesterday accused government agencies of not being active enough in prosecuting dog slaughterhouses and dog meat restaurants.
Watching a video clip shot with a hidden camera in a dog slaughterhouse that has a restaurant attached to it selling dog meat dishes, Kaohsiung Concern for Stray Animal Association (KCSAA) chairwoman Wang Hsiao-hua (王小華) burst into tears during a press conference hosted by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇).
The video showed equipment used for slaughtering dogs and processing dog meat, as well as customers enjoying various dog meat dishes in the restaurant.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
“You can always trust the food in this restaurant, it’s been around for more than 50 years,” an elderly customer having a dog meat meal with his two grandchildren was filmed as saying.
The dog slaughterhouse, run by Wang Tien-chih (王天枝), not only serves dog meat in the restaurant, but according to his business card, Wang also provides a home delivery service for frozen dog meat.
“This is a well-known dog slaughterhouse and a large dog meat supplier in Chaojhou Township [潮州], Pingtung County. If you ask anyone in Chaojhou who slaughters dogs, they would tell you it’s Wang Tien-chih,” Wang Hsiao-hua said. “How come government agencies are so reluctant to prosecute?”
According to the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法), the slaughter of pet animals — mainly dogs and cats — and the sale of the meat is prohibited.
Slaughter of dogs and cats can be punished by a fine of between NT$200,000 and NT$1 million, while those selling dog or cat meat are subject to a fine of between NT$50,000 and NT$250,000, the law stipulates.
Repeat offenders can be jailed for up to a year, according to the law.
Wang Hsiao-hua said her organization had reported the case to the Pingtung County Department of Agriculture, which is in charge of animal protection, three years ago.
“However, when agents from the department went to Wang Tien-chih’s shop, he insisted that he sold only goat meat and he refused to allow agents into his slaughterhouse or to take samples of the meat,” Wang Hsiao-hua said. “The agents could do nothing about it because they did not have a search warrant.”
KCSAA workers then pretended to be customers, shot video clips with hidden cameras, bought dog meat and turned the evidence over to the county’s Department of Agriculture.
“Officials then told us that it would be difficult to use what we had as evidence in the court, since the samples were not collected legally,” Wang Hsiao-hua said. “The government is so reluctant to act, yet when we acted, they say our evidence may be problematic. What should we do?”
Responding to the KCASS, the Council of Agriculture’s animal protection officer, Lin Tsung-yi (林宗毅), said he would check to see if the county’s Department of Agriculture was having any difficulty with the case and provide it with any assistance it needed.
In addition, a representative from Taiwan Sugar Co’s assets management office, Huang Chin-tsung (黃錦宗), said that the company would immediately terminate its rental contract with Wang Tien-chih. The slaughterhouse and restaurant are on a piece of property rented from the company.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
The Grand Hotel Taipei has rejected media reports claiming that the hotel had prevented CBS from broadcasting coverage of the Beijing summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on its premises. Media reports alleging that the hotel owner, dissatisfied with CBS’s coverage, prohibited the network from broadcasting political content on the hotel premises, are not true, the hotel said in a statement issued last night. The reports were “inconsistent with how the hotel actually handled the matter,” it said. The hotel said it received a refund request from a
RSS