Taiwan’s supervisory committee requested the administrative authorities in charge of animal protection to make improvements as soon as possible. A campaign calling for street dog culling was resurrected at the same time, with a successful proposal on the public policy online participation platform, and the Agriculture Ministry must reply to it by 2 November 2022.

For many years, an animal shelter has been relied upon by many community dog rescue groups to deliver dogs there, and even local animal protection agencies have asked it to adopt dogs when shelters are full. In late August, people first discovered dead bodies in the shelter, and dog bones were scattered outside.

After the news broke, the authority inspected the animal shelter and found that the number of dead dogs had increased to 132, all of which had not been neutered and were not cared for in their respective areas. The owner has so far refused to come forward with the truth, but was dissatisfied with the amount of fines imposed by the Department of Animal Protection, and at one point went up to the court and threatened to jump off a building in protest.

The incident involves the criminal law of animal cruelty and has been referred to the prosecutor for investigation. When and where will the next outbreak occur?

On 2 September, the proposal to reinstate the euthanasia of stray animals and regulate the feeding of stray cats and dogs was supported by 5,000 people and therefore reached the threshold of the Public Policy Network Engagement Platform and was forwarded to the Ministry of Agriculture for a response. Five years after the zero-culling policy was implemented, the number of stray dogs has not only increased, but there have also been repeated incidents of car accidents and injuries to wild animals, and now with the tragedy at the animal shelter, the animal protection administration cannot afford not to come up with a comprehensive solution!