The Taichung Police Department’s reorganization of police dog handlers is cruel to the animals and disrupts human-canine teamwork, the New Power Party’s (NPP) Taichung chapter said on Wednesday.
The department in November last year imposed a two-year term limit on police dog handlers and last month dismissed four of its eight handlers, NPP officials told a news conference outside the Taichung City Government building.
Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) is using police dogs as props in public relations events instead of deploying skilled working animals that require special care, said Hsu Hsiao-mei (徐小媚), the party’s regional director for the city’s South and East districts (東南區).
Photo: Su Chin-feng, Taipei Times
Under the new guidelines, a police dog would be reassigned 3.5 times in its career, which is detrimental to the dog’s effectiveness and mental health, she said.
The ill-conceived policy shows that the city government does not respect or understand police dogs, said Tsou Ming-yen (鄒明諺), the party’s regional director for Dali (大里) and Wufeng (霧峰) districts.
Taichung’s police dogs are overworked and in poor health, said Fu Chih-heng (傅智恒), the NPP’s regional director for Houfeng District (后豐).
The department’s cages are much smaller than those used at the Customs Administration, said Chiang Kuan-fu (江冠頫), the NPP’s regional director for Beitun District (北屯).
A police spokesman said that the handlers were dismissed when the dogs they were assigned to retired, adding that they could reapply for the job.
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard
GLOBAL: The slogan would be advertised in popular tourist destinations in North America and Europe, such as Champs-Elysees and Times Square, the agency said “Taiwan: Waves of Wonder” is to be the country’s new tourism slogan for the next 10 years, the Tourism Administration said yesterday, adding that it would be showcased in commercials at the Olympic Games in Paris and other major cities and travel fairs around the world. The new slogan, logo and theme song, which were unveiled at a news conference in Taipei, marked the agency’s latest effort to attract 10 million international visitors to Taiwan this year, a goal that it readjusted earlier this year, as China has yet to lift its travel ban to Taiwan. The administration created the “Taiwan: Touch
BOOST TO SPORTS? The Executive Yuan said that the amendment was introduced to attract professionals to Taiwan, and increase the incentives for naturalization The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed on third reading an amendment to the Nationality Act (國籍法) that would reduce the minimum residency period required for highly skilled professionals to apply for naturalization from three to two continuous years, with a minimum of 183 days in Taiwan each year. The 183-day requirement does not apply if an eligible applicant has lived legally in the territory of the Republic of China for more than five continuous years. Taiwan’s professional basketball leagues are expected to benefit from the amendments, which would allow them to recruit more players from overseas. Prior to the passage of the amendment, the