The Hualien County Government on Saturday said it would try to relocate 50 dogs that were being cared for by a private shelter in the county, after the shelter’s owner passed away.
Chu Su-mei (朱素梅), 68, sometimes cared for up to 100 stray dogs at a time, which she fed using donations collected through her shelter’s Facebook page, Aunty Chu’s Dog Shelter in Hualien Needs Our Help (花蓮朱阿姨狗園需要你我的幫忙).
Hualien Department of Agriculture Director Chen Shu-wen (陳淑雯) said the county would first communicate with Chu’s family to see if they would continue to care for the dogs, the Central News Agency reported on Saturday.
Chu’s passing is very sad, not just because of the loss of this selfless woman, but also for how her shelter demonstrates the seriousness of Taiwan’s problem with stray animals. Council of Agriculture statistics from August last year put the number of stray dogs at just more than 155,000, an increase of 6.19 percent from 2018. Animal rights groups have said the actual number of strays in Taiwan could be double what official statistics show.
Taipei City Councilor Yang Ching-yu (楊靜宇), who is a practicing veterinarian, said in December last year that animal shelters were overcrowded, with five to seven dogs in each pen at the city’s Tanmei shelter. There was also an increasing number of strays dying each year in shelters, despite a euthanasia ban put into effect in 2017, he said.
A number of factors contribute to Taiwan’s high number of strays, most significantly pet abandonment and low rates of microchipping and sterilization. Abandonment has become even more prevalent since the euthanasia ban went into effect, as people feel less guilty about ditching their pets, Animal Protection Association of the Republic of China secretary-general Huang Ching-jung (黃慶榮) told Taiwan News in September last year.
People might abandon dogs when they get difficult to care for in old age, or simply because they are not the cute puppies they once were. Sometimes dogs used for security on job sites are abandoned when sites are shut down or move. Other times, pet owners do not want to take their animal when moving to a smaller or far-away place. Whatever the reason, clearly it is too easy for people to adopt pets and later discard them.
The issue must be tackled. Such a high number of stray cats and dogs can become a health concern, as strays can carry rabies or other diseases, damage property or attack people who come near them.
Animal protection officials said they would continue trapping and neutering stray dogs. The policy should be complemented with better enforcement of laws that aim to prevent pet abandonment. Pet stores and private breeders should also be prohibited from breeding and selling dogs until the number of strays comes under control. A tax on purchased animals could be considered to encourage adoption of strays.
Taipei and other localities have encouraged schools and other public institutions to adopt strays. This is a good way to help boost adoption and to give strays a more fulfilling life than they would have in a shelter. However, adoption will ultimately be useful only if shelters are not forced to take in an ever-increasing number of dogs from the street and from pet owners.
Reducing the number of strays requires a multi-tiered approach, involving the reduction of the number of puppies being born through a large-scale sterilization campaign, and tight regulations on shops and private breeders. Tackling strays means changing the mentality around pet ownership. People must be taught to view their pets as valued and loved family members, not consumer items.
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
In an article published on this page on Tuesday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote that “legions of people worldwide would care if a disaster occurred in South Korea or Japan, but the same people would not bat an eyelid if Taiwan disappeared.” That is quite a statement. We are constantly reading about the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), hailed in Taiwan as the nation’s “silicon shield” protecting it from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and so crucial to the global supply chain for semiconductors that its loss would cost the global economy US$1
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
Sasha B. Chhabra’s column (“Michelle Yeoh should no longer be welcome,” March 26, page 8) lamented an Instagram post by renowned actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) about her recent visit to “Taipei, China.” It is Chhabra’s opinion that, in response to parroting Beijing’s propaganda about the status of Taiwan, Yeoh should be banned from entering this nation and her films cut off from funding by government-backed agencies, as well as disqualified from competing in the Golden Horse Awards. She and other celebrities, he wrote, must be made to understand “that there are consequences for their actions if they become political pawns of
RSS