Animal Rescue Team Taiwan yesterday criticized an animal shelter run by the New Taipei City Government’s Animal Protection and Health Inspection Office for allegedly abandoning an old, nearly blind dog on a mountain.
The group said it received a complaint yesterday from a dog owner surnamed Chen (陳) whose Maltese, Tang Tang (唐唐), went missing on Thursday near the Bali Ferry Pier in Bali District (八里).
After searching for some time, Chen learned that Tang Tang had been taken to the Bali District Fire Department, and was then sent to the public animal shelter, the group said.
Photo courtesy of Animal Rescue Team Taiwan
However, within 24 hours of Tang Tang’s arrival at the shelter, shelter staff had reportedly left it on a mountain, the group said, adding that the shelter also reportedly told Chen that it had not received Tang Tang.
Only after a police investigation did Chen discover that Tang Tang had been abandoned.
With the help of a local group on Facebook, Chen was able to find Tang Tang.
Old dogs are unable to survive in the wild, and Tang Tang is nearly blind, with poor senses of smell and hearing, Animal Rescue Team Taiwan spokesperson Anthony Ni (倪京台) said.
The shelter staff should be punished and Animal Protection and Health Inspection Office Director Chen Yuan-chuan (陳淵泉) should step down, Ni said.
Chen told the media yesterday that the case was under investigation, but he would request disciplinary action against himself.
A veterinarian stationed at the shelter has been transferred, two staff members have been fired and another staff member has also resigned, he said.
Hopefully the public would not ignore the office’s efforts to fight for animal rights due to a single case, Chen said.
Additional reporting by Chen Hsin-yu
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
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
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
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,
RSS