PROBLEM 3: Overcrowding Causing Filth, Fighting, and Transmission of Disease The Standard:

Exhibit 7 7-12 dogs in Keelung are forced to eat, sleep, and relieve themselves in a space approximately 24 square feet. Notice dog lying in food bin.

The Standard:
Cages and pens are not to contain more dogs than can comfortably move around and establish their territory in the given area. This is accomplished by evaluating dogs at the point and time of admission into the pound. Diseased and injured dogs who are not going to be treated as a financial or practical matter, and those who are deemed to be unadoptable for physical, behavioral, or other reasons, are euthanized right away. No suffering is permitted and animals cannot be kept simply to delay the inevitable when it is impossible to find them new homes. Aggressive, pregnant, and nursing dogs are kept separate from all others.

The Reality:
Most pounds are grossly overcrowded. Because dogs are not evaluated for disease and injuries at the point and time of their entry, pens are usually full of chronically unadoptable, sick, suffering, and wounded dogs. These animals must compete with healthy, more aggressive dogs for food and water and a place to lie down (EXHIBIT 7).

Exhibit 8 Dying dog lies in food bin filled with water. (Shi Tze)

Overcrowding leads to fights for territory and sustenance. Nursing and pregnant dogs, as well as puppies, find themselves in the same debilitating, life-and-death struggle and are often injured or perish trying to eke out their existence. Some dogs physically occupy the food bins (EXHIBIT 8), where there are such bins, and prevent others from eating. The bodies of those who have perished from disease or fights are unceremoniously thrown out (EXHIBIT 9) or left to be eaten by the desperate survivors (EXHIBIT 10). Because of overcrowding, parasites, infections, viruses, and skin disorders are passed from one dog to another, dooming healthy dogs. Wounds from fighting are common and draw flies and infection. If rabies ever breaks out on the island, the disease will be spread in the pounds and because of the pounds if they are not drastically improved. Also, the most likely people to be bitten by a rabid dog will be the untrained pound workers who provoke bites. Because of overcrowding, the buildup of fecal matter and urine in the pens is too great to handle and the dogs cannot keep themselves clean because they are forced to lie in their own waste. Workers do not know how to clean the cages, so waste accumulates or, in the "best" places, hoses are used to spray cold water into the pen, spattering fecal matter into cage and floor crevices, drenching the dogs, and creating further health problems (EXHIBIT 11).

Exhibit 11 Feces and urine mixed with water, filling cracks in cement, creating unhealthy conditions, and providing dogs with few dry areas to rest in.

The Solution:
Animals must be evaluated at the time of arrival. Sick, injured, and unadoptable animals must be euthanized at that time or as soon as the veterinarian can arrive, and it is recommended that the law be changed or regulations be created to allow on-site veterinary technicians to administer lethal injections. This requires only a steady hand, not a degree in veterinary medicine. If there is a delay, pregnant, nursing, extremely young or old, sick, and injured animals cannot be housed among the general population. The dog population should be reviewed at least once a day, thereafter, and health problems drawn to the attention of the veterinarian on call.