Several lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) today called on the government to expedite talks with insurance companies to develop coverage plans for search-and-rescue, detection and other working dogs.
At a news conference in Taipei, DPP Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) said working dogs deployed to government agencies had been duly serving the nation by carrying out various high-risk tasks.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
According to data provided by the Ministry of Agriculture's Department of Animal Welfare, there are currently 252 government working dogs across Taiwan for search-and-rescue, patrol, explosive detection, drugs and tobacco interdiction, and other law enforcement and emergency services.
However, unlike pet dogs, for which owners can now buy insurance that covers sickness or accidental injuries, such coverage is not available for working dogs, Wu said.
Wu and several other DPP lawmakers called for "coordinated efforts" between the ministry and the Financial Supervisory Commission to speed up negotiations with private insurance firms on coverage for working dogs in training, on duty and in retirement.
The ministry is the top government agency responsible for the protection of working dogs, while the commission is the competent authority overseeing the insurance service sector.
Department deputy head Chen Chung-hsing (陳中興) told the news event that the agency and private insurers began talks over the issue on March 26.
However, Chen declined to provide a timeline for when such negotiations would or could be completed.
Elly Huang (黃家莉), manager of the Consumer Insurance section at Nan Shan General Insurance Co, which is the only insurer to have expressed an interest in the initiative so far, also said it would "take some time" for assessment and product development.
Wang Chi-hua (王綺華), an official from commission's Insurance Bureau, highlighted some of the challenges for the government to make a deal with insurance companies, notably the limited number of working dogs and the wide variety of duties they perform.
Insurance companies rely on large pools to spread the costs, which means there is little incentive for them to develop plans for working dogs, Wang said.
DPP Legislator Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) suggested the ministry and commission explore the possibility of rolling out government-sponsored insurance plans for working dogs.
Greenpeace yesterday said that it is to appeal a decision last month by the Taipei High Administrative Court to dismiss its 2021 lawsuit against the Ministry of Economic Affairs over “loose” regulations governing major corporate electricity consumers. The climate-related lawsuit — the first of its kind in Taiwan — sought to require the government to enforce higher green energy thresholds on major corporations to reduce emissions in light of climate change and an uptick in extreme weather. The suit, filed by Greenpeace East Asia, the Environmental Jurists Association and four individual plaintiffs, was dismissed on May 8 following four years of litigation. The
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
DIPLOMACY: It is Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo’s first visit to Taiwan since he took office last year, while Eswatini’s foreign minister is also paying a visit A delegation led by Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo arrived in Taiwan yesterday afternoon and is to visit President William Lai (賴清德) today. The delegation arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 4:55pm, and was greeted by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍). It is Arevalo’s first trip to Taiwan since he took office last year, and following the visit, he is to travel to Japan to celebrate the 90th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Arevalo said at the airport that he is very glad to make the visit to Taiwan, adding that he brings an important message of responsibility
About 3,000 people gathered at events in Taipei yesterday for an annual candlelight vigil commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, a brutal crackdown by Chinese authorities on a student-led demonstration in Beijing on June 4 36 years ago. A candlelight vigil organized by the New School for Democracy and other human rights groups began at 7pm on Democracy Boulevard outside Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, with the theme "Resist Transnational Repression, Defy Totalitarianism." At about 8pm, organizers announced that about 3,000 people had attended the event, which featured brief speeches by human rights advocates from Taiwan and China, including Hong Kong, as well
RSS