Taipei Times, 11/5/03: Stray dogs being eaten, welfare activists charge

[Guest guest]

Please help us locate this organization:

 

Care for Animals and Protect the Earth

Shen Jung-chen, founder

Taiwan

 

or veterinarian/rescuer Huang Jen-yen

 

Thank you,

--Kim Bartlett, publisher of ANIMAL PEOPLE Newspaper

 

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The Taipei Times Wednesday, November 05, 2003

 

Stray dogs being eaten, welfare activists charge

By Chiu Yu-Tzu, STAFF REPORTER

 

On the fifth anniversary of the Animal Protection Law, legislators and

animal-rights activists said the law was being ignored, claiming that

one third of stray dogs in public shelters are sold to restaurants.

Hsiao Hua, a 9-year-old crippled dog with patchy fur, was displayed

by independent Legislator Su Yin-kuei at a press conference at the

Legislative Yuan yesterday.

The dog was disabled after being beaten by a drunk last year. It also

lost its left eye in the incident.

But Hsiao Hua is luckier than many abused dogs in Taiwan.

A recent survey by Su and animal-welfare groups suggests that one-third

of strays or abandoned dogs in shelters are sold to restaurants and

one-tenth to laboratories.

" Even though we have the law, we don't see the government's resolve to

protect animals, " Su said.

Su said that in the past five years the Council of Agriculture (COA)

has meted out punishment in only 12 percent of animal abuse cases.

According to the law, those who abandon or abuse dogs will be fined up

to NT$50,000 and those who kill pets will be fined up to NT$10,000.

Shen Jung-chen, founder of Care for Animals and Protect the Earth

Organization, said the selling of dog meat by restaurants and street

vendors could be attributed to a lack of enforcement.

" Our survey suggests that the unit price for dogs varies from NT$300 to

NT$3,000, " Shen said.

After carrying out a nationwide investigation, Shen found that all

jurisdictions in the country have shops selling dog meat.

Huang Jen-yen, a veterinarian who rescues stray dogs, said stray

animals were regarded as waste and that people see dealing with strays

as a garbage collector's job.

" The law says seriously injured dogs should be rescued or subject to

mercy killings. But the government seems to prefer the latter, " Huang

said.

But Andrew Wang, an official from the COA's Animal Industry Department,

said the activists' accusations lack evidence.

" We deal with all animal abuse cases reported with evidence, "

Wang said,

adding that measures have been taken to rescue strays and reintroduce

them to domestic life.

Wang said 54 restaurants selling dogs before the law was

enacted in 1998

have been closed.

" But if there's any evidence showing secret trading of dogs as food, we

will tackle the problem immediately, " Wang said.

Since the law was enacted in 1998, the COA has spent NT$300 million on

building new shelters and renovating existing ones.

Wang said the number of stray dogs has been halved from

660,000 in 1999.

In addition, the number of pet dogs in Taiwan has fallen from 2.11

million in 1999 to 1.79 million in 2001.

But only 30 percent of domestic dogs have been tagged.

 

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--

Kim Bartlett, Publisher of ANIMAL PEOPLE Newspaper

Postal mailing address: P.O. Box 960, Clinton WA 98236 U.S.A.

CORRECT EMAIL ADDRESS IS: <ANPEOPLE

Website: http://www.animalpeoplenews.org/

 

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Something to think about: We believe that the Golden Rule

applies to animals, too. We don't accept the prevailing notion

that " people come first' " or that " people are more important than

animals. " Animals feel pain and suffer just as we do, and it is

almost always humans making animals suffer and not the other way

around. Yet in spite of how cruelly people behave towards animals

-- not to mention human cruelty to other humans -- we are supposed to

believe that humans are superior to other animals. If people want

to fancy themselves as being of greater moral worth than the other

lifeforms on this earth, we should begin behaving better than they

do, and not worse. Let's start treating everyone as we would like

to be treated ourselves.