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.
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