The number of pet dogs registered in Taiwan decreased by nearly 500,000 in five years, figures from the Council of Agriculture’s Department of Animal Industry showed.
The number of domestic dogs dropped from 1.7 million to 1.23 million between 2017 and 2021, while the number of domestic cats increased by 20 percent, department deputy director Chiang Wen-chuan (江文全) said on Thursday.
“It could be that people are finding cats easier to take care of, and that’s driving a change in pet-adoption patterns,” he said.
Photo: Yang Cheng-yu, Taipei Times
Chiang made the comments at a Taiwan Animal Protection Monitor Network event to discuss nationwide access to dog parks. The conference was also attended by Democratic Progressive Party legislators Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤), Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃), Lai Hui-yuan (賴惠員) and Mark Ho (何志偉), as well as New Power Party Chairwoman Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華).
Network secretary-general Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) said there are 86 dog parks in Taiwan, but they are unevenly distributed, with the majority being in Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan.
Taipei has the best ratio of parks to dogs, with one park for every 6,600 dogs, he said.
“We hope to increase the number to one park for every 4,000 dogs in each of the six special municipalities,” he said.
In other counties and municipalities, the aim is for one park for every 10,000 dogs, he added.
“Residents have often opposed dog parks in their communities, so the government should make proposals and let communities decide,” he said.
“Communities also need to help maintain the parks,” he added. “The government can’t do it alone.”
Another problem is that there are no standards for the design of dog parks, Ho Tsung-hsun said, adding that pet advocates have urged Taipei to help draft standards that could be used by local governments across the country.
Local public works departments should handle the maintenance of dog parks, given their superior resources, he said.
The council should provide financial and administrative assistance in the creation of dog parks, Lai said.
Wu said that parks often have insufficient shade to provide dogs and owners respite from hot weather, and that water-saving measures at the parks are lacking.
Chen Jiau-hua said that Parks could also be made more environmentally friendly by removing plastic bag dispensers and requiring owners to bring their own bags to clean up after their dogs.
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