Thirty-nine dogs have died in Chiayi County since Monday, allegedly due to heat exhaustion, after 70 dogs and a cat were loaded into a vehicle designed to carry just 20 animals, leading to the head of a local animal agency and other personnel being demoted.
A Chiayi Livestock Disease Control Center veterinarian transported the animals to a local private shelter on Monday, but 26 dogs — 13 adults and 13 puppies — were dead on arrival at the shelter, despite resuscitation efforts.
The death toll rose to 39 yesterday, with the dead animals being cremated following a religious ceremony.
Originally kept at a public shelter and facing euthanasia, the animals were to be admitted to the private shelter.
Videos and photographs of veterinarians and shelter workers trying to resuscitate dogs that lay motionless at the shelter went viral on the Internet, sparking public outrage at the center’s apparent negligence.
“Today is the saddest day since the shelter’s establishment. A car carrying dogs to be euthanized arrived at the shelter, but a volunteer was shocked by what he saw when he opened the trunk: Cages in the car were overcrowded with dogs. Some were already dead and those still alive were dying,” Hsu Wen-liang (徐文良), a shelter worker and brother of the shelter’s owner, wrote on Facebook.
“The shelter only agreed to take in 15 adult dogs and several sick puppies, but the center sent 70 dogs and a cat without informing the shelter. Who gave the order?” Hsu wrote.
The center on Monday apologized over the incident, saying a glitch with the vehicle’s air conditioning and hot weather caused temperatures inside the vehicle to rise too high, resulting in the death of the animals.
However, Chiayi County Commissioner Helen Chang (張花冠) visited the center and inspected the vehicle. She found that the car’s air conditioning was functioning properly and therefore attributed the incident to the center’s crowding of animals into a small, poorly ventilated space, adding that the animals should have been transported separately instead of in a single trip.
Chang said the county government would establish a standard operating procedure for animal transportation to protect animal welfare, while center director Wong Yo-chu (翁有助) and the veterinarian driving the vehicle have been demoted.
Shelter owner Hsu Wen-hui (徐雯慧) said that, despite the demotions, problems would still exist if the center continues with its present method of operation, adding that allowing animal rights campaigners to be involved with the center and public shelters would improve operations.
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