Dogs Transported from North to South: Improper Transport and Shelter of Dogs and Cats - Control Yuan Corrects the Council of Agriculture and Chiayi County Government

Editor's note: The "zero euthanasia" policy officially took effect in February of this year, but are stray dogs and cats being well treated in shelters? Is the capacity of shelters sufficient to bear the responsibility of care? These questions have raised doubts. In April 2016, an incident of improper transport of dogs and cats occurred at the Minxiong shelter in Chiayi County, in which 47 dogs being sent to a private dog farm were suffocated to death. The Control Yuan launched an investigation and yesterday (the 8th) announced the results, finding that the number of shelters did not match, the shelter environment was poor, staffing was insufficient and the working environment was bad. It demanded that the Council of Agriculture, the Chiayi County Government and other units review and improve. The following is the full text from the Control Yuan (the subheadings in the text were added by the editor to facilitate reading)

Control Yuan Announcement: "Improper Transport of Dogs and Cats by the Chiayi County Livestock Disease Control Center Resulting in Injury and Death" and "Death of Animals Consigned for Transport by Ground Staff at Taoyuan Airport" and Other Cases - Control Yuan Corrects the Chiayi County Government and the Council of Agriculture, and Demands Review and Improvement by the Council of Agriculture, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the Chiayi County Government and the Miaoli County Government

Text/Control Yuan

On April 25, Year 105 of the Republic of China (2016), the Chiayi County Government Livestock Disease Control Center (hereinafter referred to as the Livestock Center), while transporting dogs and cats from the animal shelter to Mr. Xu's Animal Sanctuary in Tainan City, caused the death of more than half of them due to improper transport. Subsequent reports further disclosed that a similar incident had also occurred at the Miaoli County Animal Protection and Epidemic Prevention Center. In addition, on August 4, Year 105 (2016), at Taoyuan International Airport, ground staff transporting consigned animals caused a large number of animals to die of heat exhaustion due to operational negligence.

The Finance and Economics Committee of the Control Yuan today (the 8th) passed a proposal by Control Yuan members Jiang Qiwen and Liu Dexun, correcting the Chiayi County Government and the Executive Yuan Council of Agriculture (hereinafter referred to as the Council of Agriculture), and demanding review and improvement by the Council of Agriculture, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the Chiayi County Government and the Miaoli County Government.

Control Yuan members Jiang Qiwen and Liu Dexun stated that at a time when animal protection is receiving increasing attention, such a regrettable incident still occurred, showing that government management operations are improper. In particular, after interviewing relevant officials and conducting on-site visits, it was found that the Livestock Center's adoption management operations were extremely chaotic.

Adopted Cats and Dogs Not Microchipped and Not Registered as Pets

Of the 71 cats and dogs transported in this case, only 2 had microchips implanted. The center admitted that because the number of adoptions at large parks is huge, microchips are usually not implanted, nor is pet registration carried out. Of the 950 microchips purchased in Year 104 (2015), because the number used was not compiled, there is no summary table available for reference. Because the section chief was transferred, no one took over the eight-in-one vaccine, and its whereabouts are unknown, running counter to the Council of Agriculture's policy.

In addition, the monitors and vehicle dashcams at the Livestock Center had been broken for 2 years without repair, resulting in low effectiveness in supervising the care of dogs and cats. It was also found that as of April 26, Year 105 (2016), the number of pet registrations at Mr. Xu's Animal Sanctuary in Tainan had reached 10,977, of which only 6 came from Chiayi County, but Chiayi County had as many as 3,424 on record, fully proving that the center handled pet registration and adoption operations carelessly and perfunctorily, without being thorough.

Dogs Transported from North to South, Unclear Whereabouts, Overloading During Transport Causing Injury and Death

Moreover, over the years, when the center repeatedly transported stray animals from the shelter to private breeding farms, it sought convenience and always overloaded. Generally speaking, a 3.5-ton dedicated transport vehicle can carry only about 20 animals, but since Year 103 (2014), the center had transported more than 50 animals in a single trip as many as 18 times, and even once carried 72 animals in one vehicle. Combined with neglecting the insufficient space and ventilation equipment of the transport vehicles, this caused a large number of animal injuries and deaths. The county government had long been negligent in supervision, missing the opportunity for prevention, and all of this constituted dereliction of duty.

In addition, the Council of Agriculture failed to face up to the facts of "transporting dogs from the north to the south" and the existence of private dog farms. For example, there are currently 13 counties and cities that transfer dogs and cats to private parties, but according to Article 9, Paragraph 2 of the Animal Transport Management Regulations, the "animal species" covered are pigs, cattle and sheep, and dogs and cats are not included. This clearly shows that the Council of Agriculture has not taken this work seriously. Moreover, management of the whereabouts of dogs and cats after adoption is incomplete, private dog farms have not been brought under management, and it has not actively urged local governments to conduct effective follow-up in accordance with the law.

For example, Mr. Xu's Animal Sanctuary had cumulatively adopted 8,485 dogs, but according to a check by the Tainan City Animal Health Inspection and Protection Office, the number of adopted dogs was 1,820. The discrepancy is very large. This also demonstrates that the Council of Agriculture did not grasp the purpose of establishing private dog farms or their actual operations, creating blind spots in animal protection management. This is improper and should be corrected.

Chiayi Public Animal Shelter Environment Too Poor, Insufficient Manpower

In addition, this investigation also found that the Chiayi County public animal shelter is located in a corner of a garbage landfill, with a foul-smelling environment. The medical room, office space and rest room are all makeshift containers. The county allowed its veterinarians and staff to work in an unbearably poor workplace environment under excessive workloads and insufficient manpower, while hoping that the shelter environment could also take into account animal quality of life and provide proper care. This is obviously like climbing a tree to seek fish. Moreover, it is not an isolated case in one county or city for public shelters to transport dogs and cats to private breeding farms by themselves. The case of injury and death caused by the Livestock Center's transport of dogs and cats is only one example. The Council of Agriculture neither paid attention to this kind of systemic problem nor supervised it, failing in its duties.

Regarding the case on August 4, Year 105 (2016), at Taoyuan International Airport, in which a large number of live animals being transported died (3 dogs, 2 cats and 1,000 birds), damaging the nation's reputation, the cause was that the ground handling operator (Taoyuan Ground Services Company) failed to follow the provisions of the work manual by picking up the animals to the apron too early, and also failed to use dedicated aluminum canopy vehicles for animals and negligently failed to maintain ventilation. Regarding this fault that affected international reputation, Taoyuan Ground Services Company already compensated in a timely manner and revised and improved its work procedures.

Therefore, the Control Yuan members demanded that the Council of Agriculture, the Chiayi County Government and the Miaoli County Government truly improve the relevant deficiencies in animal protection operations, so as to avoid repeating incidents in which improper operations endanger animal lives and damage our international reputation for animal protection.