Stray Dogs of Taiwan: Why should you care?

Laila came to us on her deathbed

Although stray animals exist in almost every society around the world, there are several places where stray domestic animals exist in comparative numbers to human residents; India is often cited by researchers as the best place to do research on this phenomenon, but Taiwan (particularly Southern Taiwan) is also in dire need of consideration.

Here in Kaohsiung, stray dogs wander the streets in packs of up to 20 dogs, and although they are generally the best behaved pooches in Taiwanese society (they rarely bite or fight with humans), they are the cause of widespread fear of animals.  Although most of these stray animals will never harm a human- in fact, these animals tend to fear human contact and stay as far away from humans as possible- they are still the direct result of human action.  So, how did these dogs get here?

Mini Muffin ultimately found a forever home with my parents

In Southern Taiwan, there is a prevalent feeling that lingers around non-human animals that relegates them to the "thing" category.  Animals are not considered, by many, to be sentient beings worthy of humane treatment and consideration.  As such, many people are quick to buy a puppy from a pet store because the animal is just too adorable to refuse without knowing much if anything about its needs, only to find out later that the animal's natural requirements are too inconvenient for the buyer to fulfill.  Unfortunately, pet stores are not the only places unhealthy animals are hocked onto the ignorant public; breeders here are often as bad as puppy-mills since no genetic testing or other precautions are taken before pairing animals, meaning animals from breeders are often just as likely to suffer from genetic disease as pet store animals. 

Billy (Goat) was found wandering around a local park; likely someone threw him away

Once an animal has been purchased without adequate background knowledge, it is only a matter of time before the person responsible for the purchase reneges on their responsibilities and the result is either an abused animal, a neglected animal, or an animal disposed of like garbage.  Another big issue is that because of the general environment of irresponsibility about pet guardianship, most people do not spay or neuter their animals, and when they decide to throw their animal onto the street, these pets turned nomads will naturally seek others of their kind and reproduce at an uncontrollable rate.

Baby ended up being a CNR

If you think this is a problem that is only caused by ignorant pet purchases, think again.  My personal research (tied to my MA degree in Anthropology) has shown that individuals are not the only perpetrators of treating animals like literal garbage.  Many pet stores also make it policy to kill or throw away animals that have spent too long in the pet shop and have not been purchased within a certain amount of time.  This is a stark reminder that this kind of thinking is systemic in Taiwanese society and that any changes need to be from the ground up.

Little Leaf had her leash caught around a bush in our local park; likely someone threw her away

To make matters worse, the government's official stance on the stray population is that they are pests.  The resulting policy rewards independent animal catchers for bringing in animals (or carcasses) for culling (for an alternative take, see how India is combating their stray population).  Unfortunately, animals rounded up in this way are treated inhumanely and in some cases are ripped apart alive by the hooks catchers use to control them.  Even more unbelievable is that pets that are micro chipped, tagged, collared, and playing in local parks are not exempt from this treatment.  A friend went national after her micro-chipped/tagged dog was stolen out of a local park by a dog catcher.  By the time the guardian was able to locate her dog, it was already dead.  And the reason, of course, is that catchers are paid by the body, indiscriminately, regardless of whether the dog is tagged or not.

Why should you care?

If you live in Taiwan, this situation is obviously distressing, especially if you are a pet owner since your pet could be in the wrong place at the wrong time and be taken.  However, there are greater consequences for allowing people to treat animals in this way; studies have shown that caring for a pet can help children foster a sense of responsibility and compassion towards others (see this article by Hedda Meadan and Brinda Jegatheesan 2010), and this is something that I believe should be fostered worldwide, regardless of age.  In fact, those who treat animals badly are often flagged for a wide variety of criminal behavior later on.  Being good to animals is good for human society!

By allowing people to treat animals like garbage, we perhaps subconsciously reinforce the idea that it is acceptable to treat others as disposable.  In Taiwan, this mentality certainly extends past animals into the human realm, as many workers here are exploited as a matter of course.  Obviously, this exploitation is a much larger issue that needs to be addressed, but if we start with teaching the next generation of Taiwanese to be responsible and compassionate towards one another through our furry companions, I have no doubt that this will go far in changing not only treatment towards animals, but our treatment towards each other.



*All of the photos in this blog post are of dogs we have rescued over the years