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Strays find no shelter in Taiwan: activists
FINGER POINTING: Animal rights activists said local governments have
neglected the problem for years, while officials blamed irresponsible pet owners
and illegal breeders
By Vincent Y. Chao
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Feb 14, 2010, Page 2
The dingy wooden walls were covered in excrement. Maggots squirmed in plates of
food that have been left out — uneaten — for days. The air is punctuated by
tired howls and interrupted by short yelps for attention. For the dozens of
stray dogs confined in this small shelter in Lugang (鹿港), Changhua County, this
marks the beginning of each day in a building rarely visited by caretakers and
seldom seem by the public.
There is no count of how many dogs come and go in this temporary shelter, but
the non-profit Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST), which conducted
an undercover probe of the building last year, said that for the many strays
that are brought in, few leave.
However, neither the situation nor the shelter is unique.
Investigators at EAST said that local governments have neglected the problem for
years. More than 90 percent of the 326 locations they investigated were found to
be in remote and deserted garbage dumps, cemeteries or slaughterhouses.
Local governments blame the problem on rampant over-breeding leading to a jump
in the number of pets abandoned over the last decade. Authorities said that
overstretched local budgets meant that an increasingly smaller amount is set
aside to deal with the problem.
The latest data showed that about 133,000 stray dogs were picked up across the
country in 2008 — a 69 percent increase from 2003. In 17 counties, stray dogs
are caught by garbage cleaning teams and placed in temporary shelters as more
permanent housing is usually overcrowded.
As a result, private shelters are on a rise. Chris Ward, an English teacher,
said he became the operator of a shelter in Taichung County after he realized
that “authorities don’t give adoption a chance; they put the dogs down in a
week, or two weeks tops.”
In 2008, 73 percent of stray dogs picked up by government shelters ended up
being destroyed there. Officials said stray dogs are humanely killed if they are
not claimed or adopted in seven days. In 2008 the adoption rate was estimated to
be 14 percent.
“Some of the shelters are located in places people can't even find,” Ward told
the Taipei Times in a telephone interview.
In the three years that he has run the shelter, he has sent 32 dogs for adoption
overseas and has invested hundreds of thousands of New Taiwan dollars in
maintaining the facilities.
“We had hoped to work the number down to zero, but more just keeps on coming
in,” Ward said.
That's the problem that officials at the Executive Yuan agreed to deal with last
November after dozens of activists, accompanied by lawmakers, protested outside
its main gate. Earlier this month, a conference attended by local officials and
county commissioners agreed to address this issue within a year.
But some officials told animal activists in private that progress has been slow
because of issues over jurisdiction, while many local governments have simply
refused to admit that it is a problem.
“Animals have no votes, they can't participate in elections,” EAST director Chen
Yu-min (陳玉敏) said. “As a result, local politicians haven’t taken the issue
seriously.”
She said animals and pets lacked regulation and government oversight.
“The government isn't addressing the core issue — which is that too many people
want dogs but are unwilling to adopt,” she said.
The latest statistics compiled by the Council of Agriculture show that nearly
one in four households in the country includes a pet dog. EAST said that more
breeders are breeding ever larger numbers of puppies to meet the demand.
The industry is big business with lucrative returns. While there are nearly
1,000 licensed breeders, some estimates point to an even larger number of
illegal breeders. Many of these illegal breeders are “puppy mills” that breeds
puppies in large numbers with scant regard for animal welfare.
While newly sold pets are required to be ID-chipped and registered with the
council, some said the law has seldom been enforced and has done little to
discourage the illicit practice.
A proposed revision to the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法) in 2007 was heavily
opposed by the industry after it included clauses that that newly sold pets
would have to include documentation — including ancestor and genetic disease.
The clause was later dropped.
To better control the industry, the council, which regulates animal affairs as
part of its husbandry division, promised that it would create a new section
focused on animal welfare. Last November, it also announced the establishment of
new animal protection hotlines in every county.
Rosa Huang (黃蘊茹), executive director at the non-profit Animals Taiwan, said what
pet owners needed was more comprehensive “public education.”
“People are fueling this demand by treating dogs like toys,” Huang said. “A lot
of these new dog owners can't deal with ownership ... they don't know that it's
a big commitment.”
“In the end, the responsibility of stray dogs lies with irresponsible dog
owners,” she said, adding that she believed this to be an area that both the
government and non-profit organizations needed to focus on.
Ward agrees. He has plans to devote more of his time to educate future pet
owners on the issues involved with raising pets along with advocating for
sterilization.
Next month, he plans to embark on a teaching circuit in Taichung County
elementary schools.
“Hopefully, I can make a bigger difference through education,” he said.
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