President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday lauded Taiwan’s progress in animal protection, including the landmark end to the euthanasia of stray animals, at an international animal welfare conference in Taipei.
“Our central and local governments have continued to work with animal protection groups to promote a humane capture-neuter policy to reduce the stray animal population,” Lai said at the opening of the Asia for Animals Coalition (AfA) Conference.
Lai recalled that before his tenure as mayor of Tainan from 2010 to 2017, more than 12,000 stray animals were euthanized each year in the southern city.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
“But we achieved zero euthanasia, out of respect for life,” Lai told more than 600 animal welfare advocates from more than 30 countries at the conference, adding that every animal in Taiwan is now “fully protected” by law.
Taiwan formally banned the euthanasia of strays in 2017, after an amendment to the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法) required all public shelters to cease the practice.
Lai also pointed to more recent milestones, including the establishment of the Department of Animal Welfare under the Ministry of Agriculture in 2023 and last year’s amendments to regulations on animal exhibitions to “strengthen welfare standards and inspection mechanisms.”
AfA cochief executive officer Sirjana Nijjar expressed her “heartfelt gratitude” to Lai, saying that it was the first time in her career she had seen a president attend an animal protection conference, “truly showcasing your commitment to the cause of animals.”
Responding to Lai’s remarks, Chu Tseng-hung (朱增宏), executive director of Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan, said in his keynote speech that Taiwan’s stray dog problem remains unresolved, describing progress as “one step forward, one step back.”
The estimated number of stray dogs has fluctuated over the past seven years: 146,773 in 2018, 155,869 in 2020, 159,697 in 2022 and 141,584 in 2024, ministry data showed.
Chu said that the stray dog situation has also created conflicts with wildlife conservation, urging advocates for companion animals and those focused on wild species to “consider the animals that others care about.”
He described the ministry’s approach as “tokenism,” saying that although the Food and Agricultural Education Act (食農教育法) has included animal welfare provisions since 2022, its implementation has so far been largely superficial.
“Every day, more than 10,000 pigs are sent to live auction markets, which is extremely cruel,” he said.
He showed a video from the markets depicting practices such as electric prodding, and pigs being piled and rammed against one another.
On poultry farming, Chu said that more than 70 percent of Taiwan’s egg-laying hens are still confined to cages with limited space rather than being raised in cage-free systems.
First held in 2001, the AfA Conference has been convened biennially in different cities across Asia, with Taiwan hosting for the first time this year.
Under the theme “Reflection and Breaking Boundaries,” the three-day event — running from yesterday through tomorrow — features keynote speeches, plenary sessions and workshops on a wide range of animal welfare issues.
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