PROBLEM 6: Dog Pounds Are Located In or Near Garbage Dumps

The Standard:
A dog pound is a place where the public can come to arrange the adoption of animals. The dogs should be displayed in an attractive, clean environment, and the site should be conducive to visitor traffic.

Exhibit 19 Abandoned partially constructed site at Shen Ken.

The Reality:
With the exception of the new pound at Taoyuan and the partially constructed and abandoned new building site at Shen Ken (EXHIBIT 18), which are out of the way, all the pounds we visited were in or around garbage dumps. The only visitors to them were garbage trucks. In Shi Tze, the pound lies at the foot of a virtual mountain of garbage and garbage flows along in the ditch to the side of the pound. At Sanchung, the manager keeps his personal pigs at the back of the dog pens. Although he had cleaned their pens for our inspection, this is unlikely to be the usual case, and in the past, the trash he put in their pen mixed with their waste and drew flies. All the areas smell foul. Some pounds are located at the bottom of hills and, during heavy rains, become flooded, the water mixing with mud and feces (EXHIBITS 19 and 20).

The Solution:
If adoptions are ever to occur, dog pounds must be relocated away from garbage dumps.