The Council of Agriculture (COA) yesterday gathered participants of its first stray dog management policies civic assessment meetings to share the conclusions reached during the sessions, which focused on better enforcement of laws and regulations governing pet owners and breeders, as well as improving animal protection practices among the public.
COA Deputy Minister Wang Cheng-teng (王政騰) told a press conference in Taipei that the ministry last year assembled a panel of animal rights protection specialists to organize the meetings, for which 19 participants were randomly picked from a pool of 600 volunteers of varied education levels and pet-keeping experience.
The meetings began on July 26 and were run over five days spanning three weekends, he said.
He said the best way to introduce ideas of animal protection is through education and that pet owners should not treat animals as objects.
“The Council of Agriculture will explore the possibility of offering lectures to adopters before they are allowed to take home a stray dog, because a few hours of class time could greatly improve the adopters’ views on animal protection,” he said.
Wang said the ministry would also look into issuing licenses to qualified pet owners, in a fashion similar to driver’s licenses.
The council is to work toward the goal of raising the administrative power of governmental animal protection agencies to facilitate cooperation among central and local agencies, to form an accessible platform of communication.
When asked whether the trap-neuter-release (TNR) method could be performed on stray dogs and be implemented as a nationwide policy, he said that the public has yet to form a consensus on this matter, but the council is willing to support the idea and carry out small-scale tests at designated TNR stations with animal protection groups.
COA’s Animal Husbandry Department Deputy Director Chu Ching-cheng (朱慶誠) said the opinions gathered at the meetings would be submitted to the animal protection committee under the council as a reference for policymaking next year.
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