Animal welfare groups have launched an online petition to end a signature sheep show at Nantou County’s Cingjing Farm (清境農場), drawing mixed reactions from the public.
As of noon yesterday, the petition had garnered 2,420 signatures in support of the farm canceling the show, as it is said to contain segments that “harm” and “deride” sheep in front of the audience, according to the Public Policy Participation Network Platform Web site.
The petition, launched on Oct. 12 by the Taiwan Animal Equality Association, Animal Skies, Faith for Animals and World Vegan Advocacy Society, was 2,580 signatures short of the 5,000 it needs to elicit an official response from the authorities.
Photo: Tung Chen-kuo, Taipei Times
The farm, nestled in the mountains 1,750m above sea level, introduced the sheep show in 1998, which has since become its main appeal for tourists visiting during weekends and national holidays, as well as summer and winter vacation. It is the only show of its kind in Taiwan.
Getting closer to animals should be a wonderful experience, but the show causes fear and discomfort to the animals, as it involves performers pulling up the sheep’s mouth to reveal their teeth, holding them down to shear their wool and placing the wool on their heads to make the audience laugh, the petition said.
The sheep become scared and even bang their heads on the fences when a shepherd’s dog chases them around during the show, it added.
Many farms in Taiwan have engaged in practices that disregard animal rights for years, with one example being locking animals up in inappropriate spaces, it said.
As a public enterprise, Cingjing Farm should respect animal life and stop the show to set an example for other farms, it added.
Cingjing Farm said that it respects the opinions of the groups and would give a full explanation if the petition reaches the 5,000 signature threshold.
The sheep on the farm are sheared twice a year to prevent skin disease and performers show the animals’ teeth to the audience while explaining that a sheep’s age can be determined by the number of teeth it has, the farm said.
Holding sheep down on the ground does not cause any harm their limbs or body, and the purpose is to prevent them from moving around and getting hurt by the electric shears, it added.
The Nantou Animal Disease Control Center said that after amendments to the Regulations Governing the Management of Performing Animals (動物展演管理辦法) were published last year, Cingjing Farm submitted relevant reports within the one-year period required by the regulations.
Evaluations by experts found no major faults in the treatment of animals at the farm, the center said, adding that only the details of some activities needed to be revised.
The petition drew mixed responses from Internet users, with some saying that animals should not be used as tools to make money, while other said the show is meant to shed light on nomadic pastoralism, which is a lifestyle unfamiliar to Taiwanese, so performing the show in a humorous and light-hearted way would cause no harm.
If this way of life should be criticized, the petition should have been launched on an international platform to protest all countries that use shepherd dogs to herd sheep, they said.
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