Dear Sir:
Your letter of June 17, 2002, to President Chen, regarding stray dogs in Taiwan was referred to this Bureau for reply. We appreciate your concern about the matter.
This Bureau cares about the issue of stray dog management as much as you do. In recent years, the government has endeavored to solve the stray dog problem. Efforts have been put into promotion of appropriate animal protection concepts, pet registration, humane treatment of animals, improvement of animal shelters, and training of shelter workers, etc. Although it takes time to solve the stray dog problem, we will continue to devote our efforts to that end.
In regard to a recent incident of the inappropriate treatment of stray dogs in a local shelter, we have taken actions against it, including discipline of the staff [member] who neglected his duty, improvement of the shelter facility and enhancement of stray dog management. We also asked local governments to utilize volunteers to solve the problem of insufficient labor in the shelters. The incident is a single case; most animal shelters in Taiwan are devoted to [taking] care of stray dogs.
Reviews of current management of the stray dog problem have been conducted among central and local governments and animal conservation groups in the past months. In the future, volunteers will be encouraged to help in animal shelter work, training of the workers in the animal shelters will be strengthened, and adoption of stray dogs will be promoted. Authorities concerned will continue to oversee the animal shelters to make sure of proper treatment to stray dogs.
We believe that, with continuous cooperation between the government and animal conservation groups, more can be done to greatly improve the management of the stray dogs. Endeavors will also be made to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
Finally, thank you again for your opinions.
Sincerely yours,
Ching-Lung Lee
Director General
