PROBLEM 1: A Fundamental Matter of Bad Attitude and Lack of Training The Standard:

The Standard:
Training is the sine qua non of animal management. Animal workers and supervisors must be professionals who take pride in their job. They should be well versed and skilled in the art of gentle, correct animal handling practices and in animal husbandry and care. They should be competent to identify symptoms of disease and injury and to know when it is appropriate to summon veterinary assistance or to euthanize. They must understand the importance to the community of a dog pound, as well as their obligations to the people and animals they serve.

The Reality:
Workers are afraid of the dogs and loathe to touch them. They believe the animals are dangerous and will give them diseases. They also seem to think that their own work is unimportant and low class.

Exhibit 1 Young dog (with all bones visible) cowering in corner of cage. This starving dog is too frightened to go to the food and water pans. (Yin Ko)

Over and over again, our team discovered sick and injured animals abandoned in their cages to suffer without relief from pain and hunger (EXHIBIT 1). The attitude of certain workers and supervisors to the plight of these dogs ranged from obliviousness to disdain and amusement.

In San Hsia, for example, where a dying dog had been found left in a cage without food or water, management was outright rude, unable or unwilling to touch the dogs at all, except, in the case of one worker, to prod a dog with his foot. They were totally unresponsive when asked to alleviate the suffering of another dog, this one with an advanced case of mange and, in fact, the supervisors openly laughed at the idea that anyone would wish to do something for a sick dog (EXHIBIT 2). The "veterinarian" on-site at San Hsia, who dishonestly claimed that he would treat the animal (whose condition was beyond treatment), refused to lay a hand on any dog in the facility, refused to give his name, and was openly disdainful and resentful. The delegation insisted that a second veterinarian be called. This veterinarian, Dr. Lin Hung Dung, finally put the dog out of his misery.

Exhibit 2 Sick dog with advanced mange, barely able to move. (San Hsia)

In the brand new facility in Taoyuan, a dog with a broken leg limped across the kennel, his injury unnoticed and untreated. In Pa The, an exhausted dog with open sores covering much of his body was found in a small pen with four other dogs, unable to stop scratching holes in his skin. In Keelung, the pound worker made no effort to separate dogs who were fighting and was scared of even the smallest of puppies. He ineptly attempted to catch a caged dog by using a noose in much the same way a child might try to snag a toy in a game at the fair, missing his target each time he threw the loop at the dog's head.

In Sanchung, the manager of the pound used metal tongs to drag a dog who was still conscious, but unable to walk, into the kennel passageway and then kicked him to see if he was still alive. He was and would certainly have felt the manager's boot strike his head. Even when this kennel's population had been thinned for inspection, each pen contained dogs badly infected with mange (EXHIBIT 3), including a mother with more than 90 percent hair loss to her body.

In all the pounds we visited, the workers were afraid of the dogs, no matter how timid or small the animal, and were unwilling to touch them with their hands or to try to lead them gently. Without this most basic ability, little can be accomplished.

In some cases, the problem was ignorance of animal health and a lack of understanding that it is the pound workers' responsibility to care for or put out of their misery any dog who is suffering. In other cases, the problem was sheer arrogance and callousness and a complete lack of empathy for the animals' experience. At Keelung, for example, a pound worker complained that euthanasia by injection requires dealing with dogs individually and is therefore more time-consuming than mass drownings. Such indifference to the animals makes a mockery of professional animal control and pound maintenance.

The Solution:

Exhibit 3 Rib and hip bones prominent (and skin denuded), this dog's body and face are scarred from active mange sores.

A. In some cases, attitudes are too resistant and negative to change. As Desmund Tutu says, "Nothing is harder than to try to wake up a person who is only pretending to be asleep." Where that is the case, workers must be transferred or dismissed.

B. Where behaviors are the result of ignorance of the right way to perform a function because of lack of training, Life Conservation Association should be asked to provide on-site instruction. Workers must know they are required to learn from this instruction and that the continuation of their jobs depends on their successful completion and implementation of such training. This also means that supervisors must commit to allowing the time necessary for training.

C. Pride of profession can be instilled when a trained dog warden is given a title, rather than being simply a person who deals with trash. Dogs are not "living garbage," and that impression must be removed from the workers' minds by separating garbage collectors from dog wardens. The dog warden's status should be reflected in a slight elevation of wage and with the provision of a uniform. He should be provided with tools appropriate to his trade and required to perform in a respectful and responsible manner.