Public animal shelters in eight municipalities last year received more animals than their capacities allowed, which an animal rights advocate said was due to official negligence in the run-up to the Nov. 24 local elections.
Public shelters in Taipei, Tainan, Taoyuan, Chiayi City and Hsinchu, Nantou, Yunlin and Pingtung counties have been housing more animals than they were designed for, Council of Agriculture data for November last year showed.
The Taipei shelter housed a total of 1,120 animals, almost double its maximum capacity of 610, the data showed.
Photo: Huang Chung-shan, Taipei Times
Shelters in Taichung and Kaohsiung, as well as Chiayi, Penghu and Kinmen counties, were at more than 90 percent capacity, the data showed.
Overcrowding at public animal shelters has been a problem since the implementation of a “no-kill” policy on Feb. 6, 2017, Council of Agriculture Department of Animal Industry Deputy Director Wang Chung-shu (王忠恕) said yesterday.
The no-kill policy stems from an amendment to Article 12, Paragraph 7 of the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法) passed in 2015, which previously stated that shelters could put down stray animals not adopted after 12 days in shelters.
After the amendment took effect in 2017, public shelters could only kill animals that have incurable diseases or infectious conditions, or pose great danger to public safety.
Instead of building more shelters, which is difficult in urban areas such as Taipei, the council has pushed local shelters to improve accommodation quality, promote adoption and neuter stray animals to reduce their numbers, Wang said.
Many local governments last year neglected their duties to supervise animal shelters, because they were preoccupied with the elections, Taiwan Animal Protection Monitor Network executive director Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) said, but added that New Taipei City, Tainan and Taitung municipal authorities made a better effort.
Shelters should control the number of animals they house by only catching those that threaten people’s lives, he said.
In addition to reducing numbers of stray animals through the the “trap-neuter-return” program, the government should encourage animal adoption through diversified channels, including training dogs to guard schools, police stations and farms, Ho said.
Campaigners have called on the government to raise the penalty for people abandoning pets, who currently face a fine of NT$30,000 to NT$150,000.
However, Wang said that heavier fines would be disproportionate and improving animal protection education would be more effective than harsher punishments.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book