The Ministry of Agriculture has launched a digital pet identification system to improve animal welfare, and root out illegal breeding and smuggling.
The new digital identification (ID) cards would contain more information than previous ID documents, for example, a photograph of the pet, Animal Welfare Department Director Chiang Wen-chuan (江文全) told a news conference yesterday.
The ID cards would also include the pet’s birth date, the name of the owner, and whether the animal has been sterilized and vaccinated.
Photo: CNA
The online system was launched for convenience and because not enough information was included on the previous ID document, Chiang said.
Pet owners would now be able to view and update all information relating to their animal on the Pet Registration Information System (https://www.pet.gov.tw/).
Previously, owners were only issued paper documents, which they had to update in person at registration agencies.
Chiang said he hopes the new pet ID system would help clamp down on illegal breeding and animal smuggling, and give prospective pet owners information about the mother of the pet they are considering purchasing or adopting.
Potential pet owners would also be able alert to animal welfare agencies if they find anything suspicious, for example, if breeders fail to provide information about how the pet was bred, Chiang said.
Only dogs are required to be registered under the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法), but it is likely to become mandatory for cats, too, Chiang said.
Acting Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) said digital pet IDs help to trace where animals have come from and would help monitor breeding facilities.
Other policies would be proposed to encourage people to register their pets, for example, providing a discount on vaccines after registration, he added.
LOUD AND PROUD Taiwan might have taken a drubbing against Australia and Japan, but you might not know it from the enthusiasm and numbers of the fans Taiwan might not be expected to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team’s blue, blowing horns and singing songs. Taiwanese fans have packed out the Tokyo Dome for all three of their games so far and even threatened to drown out home team supporters when their team played Japan on Friday. They blew trumpets, chanted for their favorite players and had their own cheerleading squad who dance on a stage during the game. The team struggled to match that exuberance on the field, with
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
RSS