Animal rights advocates yesterday urged President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and lawmakers to enshrine the protection of animals in the Constitution, saying that existing laws are insufficient to stop the abuse of animals.
The advocates from different groups in February established an alliance to promote animal protection legislation, including by adding clauses on the protection of animals to the Constitution.
On the 50th anniversary of Earth Day yesterday, members of the alliance reiterated their demands at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
Photo: CNA
“There is only one Earth, and the health of humans and animals on the planet are interconnected,” Taiwan Animal Protection Monitor Network chairman Wang Wei-chi (王維治) said.
The alliance has written a letter to Tsai calling for a constitutional amendment to promote animal welfare, Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan executive director Wu Hung (悟泓) said, adding it would not impose a ban on the use of animals, just prevent their abuse.
“Whether it is from the perspective of food security, sustainable husbandry, disease prevention or scientific research, animal welfare is directly related to human welfare,” the letter states. “Just like humans are more vulnerable to diseases when they are under stress, or become weaker or injured, animals are more likely to be infected by new types of disease when their immune systems are affected by those factors.”
“Animals are able to feel pain and pressure, and respond to such stimuli. Their dignity of life should be respected and their welfare should be legally protected,” it states.
While the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法) imposes penalties on people who abuse animals, the effectiveness of the act is often undermined by other regulations, which shows the need to add clauses on animal protection to the nation’s highest law, the Constitution, Wu Hung said.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, people protect each other by social distancing, but animals are kept in crowded cages that can be hotbeds of other viruses, he said.
The alliance yesterday met with the legislative caucus of the Taiwan People’s Party, which was the first political party to respond to their demands, Taiwan Animal Protection Monitor Network secretary-general Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) said.
The alliance also plans to arrange meetings with the caucuses of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the New Power Party and the Democratic Progressive Party, Ho said.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS