Animal rights activists accused government authorities yesterday of allowing widespread animal abuse to occur when strays are rounded up.
The Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST) said that despite the passage of the Animal Protection Law (動物保護法) more than a decade ago, officials are turning a blind eye to cases of stray dogs and cats being denied water, food and proper care.
Nearly 900,000 stray animals have been picked up by local authorities over the past 10 years, EAST said. In the last year alone, 133,000 animals were collected and of this total 96,400 were put to death.
PHOTO: CHUNG LI-HUA, TAIPEI TIMES
After visiting 326 facilities in a process that spanned three years, activists said that most stray animals were treated as waste and processed as such. They said that in many cases stray cats and dogs had not had anything to eat or drink in days. Many lay dying from a lack of care and fighting among the animals was common.
The group said a lack of management and accountability rather than funding was the main reason for such abuses.
They said that most abuse occurred at makeshift shelters where the pets were held before being sent off to larger permanent facilities.
“The authorities don’t adhere to the [Animal Protection Law] because they don’t care about this issue,” EAST officer Chen Yu-min (陳玉敏) said. “We are calling on the authorities to close down these makeshift shelters and implement stricter oversight on the other facilities.”
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) backed the activists’ call.
“These problems occur because these animals don’t have the right to vote,” Tien said. “The fact that we let these abuses [continue for so long] showcases our lack of compassion for life.”
Officials from the Council of Agriculture (COA) promised to launch a thorough investigation and to introduce accountability into the system. However, they said that the responsibility for stray pets falls within the jurisdiction of local governments.
“We will launch a full investigation if abuses under the Animal Protection Law are occurring,” chief of the COA’s Livestock Administration Section Lin Chung-yi (林宗毅) said.
Facing questions about the urgency of the issue, Lin promised to deliver results within “a few weeks.”
In response, EAST said that if this investigation was not concluded on schedule, it planned to launch a series of nationwide protests.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by