There were an estimated 1.48 million pet dogs and 1.31 million pet cats in Taiwan last year, an increase of 19 percent and 50 percent respectively compared with 2021, the Ministry of Agriculture’s latest survey showed.
As raising children is challenging, many people have turned to raising pets, which is why the ministry data released on Friday show an increase of pet dogs and cats in the nation.
The ministry’s data, based on a telephone survey last year, show that 28.3 percent of households in Taiwan have pets, which is a 6.7 percent increase from 2021.
Photo: Tainan City Animal Health Inspection and Protection Office
The survey estimated that there were 1,480,637 pet dogs last year, an increase of 19 percent from 1,235,218 dogs in 2021.
There were an estimated 1,311,449 pet cats last year, an increase of 50 percent from 870,801 in 2021, the data showed.
The survey result matches the global trend of the number of households with pet cats increasing, as urbanization intensifies, the ministry said.
About 10.4 percent of households had cats last year, an increase of 3.8 percent compared with 2021, while 13.8 percent had dogs last year, an increase of 1.3 percent, it said.
Moreover, the ministry found that 9.3 percent of households have other pets, which is a 3.3 percent increase from two years ago.
Pets in Taiwan are becoming more diversified, so the ministry’s administration of pets needs adjustments, it said.
The survey also showed that the sterilization rate of pet dogs was 68.9 percent, an increase from 66.4 percent in 2021, and the rate among pet cats was 82.8 percent, increasing from 84.6 percent, suggesting that cat owners are relatively willing to have their pet neutered.
The pet dog registration rate was 70.6 percent last year, an increase from 69.5 percent in 2021, and 58.4 percent of cats were registered, up from 50.7 percent in 2021, the survey showed.
National regulations require pet dogs to be microchipped and registered, while only Taipei requires pet cats to be registered.
The ministry said it is mulling different levels of animal welfare management for different types of pets.
As the number of cat owners has significantly increased, it is also assessing the feasibility of a mandatory pet cat registration mechanism, it added.
Letting unsterilized pet dogs run outdoors freely is the main source of the stray dog problem, the ministry said, and urged dog owners not to let their dogs wander around and reproduce freely.
Aside from landline phone calls, the survey’s sampling population included randomly selected cellphone numbers, and 10,348 valid samples were collected, with a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points, the ministry said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS