Taiwan SPCA

關於最近的寵物新聞,為防止棄養,在新北市想買狗,貓,飼主需先上兩小時的生命教育課程!

新聞一出來,許多人疑問:
那不要在新北市買寵物就好啦!!只上兩小時,對防棄養有效果嗎??有助於減少衝動買寵物的人,那對於丟棄寵物的人呢??寵物店違規偷賣,誰抓得到??"動物保護警官"將由警察局,消防局,環保局調派專業人士,不過,所謂的專業是以何種領域評斷的專業人士?...等!!

民眾的疑問也是政府必須解決的問題!而不是制定了法令,卻沒有付諸實行!
法律的制定必須配合完整的配套措施,才可達到最大成效!

儘管諸多疑問,新北市將成為第一個設立此法律的縣市已值得稱讚!!這是台灣要成為友善對待動物的環境的第一步!!

加油加油!!!

_
Saw a very interesting article talking about how "nudging" or offering reminders to people can actually help us become greener. Reminder stickers pasted above light switches remind you to turn off your lights. Footsteps painted on the ground towards a public garbage bin can remind you not to litter.

"The whole idea is that we don't force anyone to do anything ... it's about helping people make the right choices to reach their own objectives..."

This quote completely sums up my belief that some, not all of-course, some supposed animal abuse cases are just because people don't know any better, or they don't know any other way. Recently we helped a dog named Doo Doo who we saw near the SPCA office. Doo Doo is obviously an old dog but his fur had nearly all fallen out and he had a strong stench and seemed quite weak. We'd always see the owner walking him and the thought of "abuse" or "neglect" crossed our minds initially and is thus why we approached the owner to ask her about the condition of her dog. It turns out that the owner loves Doo Doo but she herself obviously lives very poorly and hasn't had much education in her life. She doesn't know what the proper way to care for a dog is and she is financially unable to take Doo Doo to the vet and thought that just by giving him rice and leftovers that Doo Doo's fur would grow back by itself.

What I'm trying to say is that in Taiwan, we really have to go BACK TO THE BASICS; even though the more affluent communities/people in major cities like Taipei and Taichung already have a good sense of animal welfare and basic standards of pet ownership,  many local pet owners in rural areas or of the older generation still lack the basic knowledge of what proper animal care is. We need to focus on education of the young in order to create a brighter future for animals,  but also we need to educate the mom and pop older generation as well in order to solve current issues of animal cruelty.

The problem is that once a pattern of behavior has formed, it's difficult to break, especially if the negative repercussions are not experienced immediately, says Professor Robert Cialdini, psychologist and author of "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion." "Our brains are designed to go into autopilot once we've established a routine that works for us. This is useful because it frees us up to think about things other than day-to-day tasks. But it's also unhelpful if the behavior has negative, albeit not immediately felt, consequences," he adds.

This is so true in that Doo Doo's owner was probably just used to feeding him rice, used to him having a strong stench, used to him sleeping on the hard floor, etc. which blinded her to any other possible alternatives for Doo Doo that may improve his physical welfare. Ofcourse her own environment and lack of financial ability has a lot to do with it as well, but it's more the reason why we need to help people like Doo Doo's owner and offer "nudges" in the community that remind and teach people the right way to care for your animal companion.

Gives me an idea....what about putting "nudges" on things we use and see every day that can remind us of humane treatment of animals? What about handing out free grocery bags to aunties and uncles at wet markets with a picture reminder of how much CO2 is emitted because of cattle farming (thus encouraging people to save farm animals, eat less meat, save the environment)? What about making wristbands, sportswear, socks, etc. that have logos reminding people that "dogs need exercise too"? What about just simple signs around the community or stickers people can post on the back of their scooters that have important messages such as "Dogs are pack animals, they need your company", "Dogs can get lost in traffic, microchip your dog"..etc.

I'm not very creative today, any other slogan or nudge ideas? ~ Annie

昨天去獸醫院接回了小黑。。記得他嗎? 他就是被主人長期鏈子綁著﹐繩子吃入脖子的可愛狗狗。。小黑住院期間主人多次打電話關心﹐也有去獸醫那看小黑。我們相信主人是真的不懂的如何照顧狗狗﹐而倒置小黑受傷。主人很忱懇的表示不會在把小黑鏈起來﹐會帶他散步。我們會追蹤確保主人說到做到﹐也會回去帶他們另外的小博美去剪指甲。

昨天知名主播 顧小姐 也跟著我們幫忙了一整天! Lydia 耐心的教了阿媽怎麼綁狗鏈﹐如何喂食。。很感動﹐愛心主播最美!
其實這個案件讓我們發現﹐有些人是真的不懂如何完善的照顧動物﹐雖然不應該是借口﹐但是我們應該給他們一個機會。

~請大家多關心週邊的人與動物們~

日前東森新聞報導某一寵物店販賣袋鼠的新聞.根據寵物店老闆的說法是,他們進口的是"沼林袋鼠"為袋鼠中體型最小的袋鼠,老闆說"只要一坪"的空間便可以飼養此袋鼠.他說現在有很多人在排隊購買此種袋鼠.目前已經向國外業者加購,但來不及滿足目前的需求量,所以他將把現在家中一公一母的袋鼠自行繁殖!經詢問後得知,老闆不只袋鼠,也有繁殖跟販賣狗跟貓還有貂,並且都是在"自家"中繁殖及販賣!!

詢問相關政府機構所得到的答案竟是"目前台灣法律對於此類異國動物尚未有完善的規範法規"!!==
第一,在台灣養袋鼠????袋鼠本來就不是台灣的本土動物,在進口袋鼠時,業者是否有謹慎考慮袋鼠對於台灣本土動植物的影響評估?或只是業者"私人利益"的不負責任舉動?!
第二,業者在"自己家中"販賣及繁殖動物是否有任何販賣動物的合法證照?針對野生動物的繁殖交配,業者是否具備專業知識及執照?在台灣,若違法販賣貓狗已觸法!!
 
台灣野生動物進出口相關法律急需改善~在更多不肖業者為了賺錢而引進更多異國野生動物的時候,我們該用什麼來規範業者及保護動物的權利呢?還是我們只能眼睜睜看著那些被強行帶離自己棲息地的動物卻無能為力呢? 野生動物有自己的棲息地,不是隨意的就可以買賣繁殖的!!牠們不是寵物,也不該當成寵物被人類自私地飼養在家中!!

向這種不道德且殘忍的動物進出口行為說NO!!! ~ Nancy

又要再次感謝民眾的通報﹐ 這次是到了士林區。案件是關於一隻狗狗被主人綁著﹐脖子上面明顯的看到傷口。我們過去時﹐一位年長的阿媽再家﹐ 裡面有兩隻狗狗﹐ 的確一直有被鐵鏈綁著﹐ 另外小隻的狗狗沒有被綁。進去我們就聞到了發炎的味道,也看到了狗狗脖子上的傷口。 經過了解﹐ 小黑一隻被綁是因為他會亂咬東西﹐ 我們解釋給主人聽﹐狗狗會咬東西是因為他很無聊﹐ 想要找東西解放他的壓力。在解釋的時候剛好阿媽的女兒回家了﹐ 我們就與她們兩位詢問為何狗狗脖子會變成這個樣子。原來是因為小時候她們把小黑帶回家(路上撿到的)時就用一個細的繩子當鏈子﹐ 一直都沒有拿下來﹐之後因為綁了新的狗圈在脖子上面﹐就忘記下面的繩子 (她們從來沒有帶狗狗散步﹐ 小黑因此也害怕下樓﹐ 阿媽也就拉不動)。母女兩位說有用藥物幫小黑擦傷口﹐以為這樣會好轉...我們強調一定要帶小黑去看獸醫﹐一定要把繩子拿出﹐ 不然是違反動物保護法。我們提議讓我們帶去我們的獸醫﹐ 她們馬上就答應。之後小黑到了翰生動物醫院﹐ 醫生們幫他做手術﹐把繩子拔出 (真的很感謝醫生的好技術!)。 小黑目前要住院幾天﹐ 今天主人也有打電話過來關心﹐ 想問是否她們可以去看小黑 (她們說畢竟從小養到大﹐有感情﹐ 希望過去看小黑﹐不要讓他覺得她們把他遺棄了)。其實有時候很多人連最基本照顧寵物的觀念都沒有﹐ 但不一定是她們不在乎她們的狗狗﹐ 也許是因為當人在貧窮的環境下是沒有辦法好好的去照顧到家裡面的成員。阿媽年紀大了﹐ 女兒要上班養家﹐ 獸醫費又很貴...當然我們協會會支付小黑的醫療費﹐ 也會請我們的訓狗師提供主人一些建議像如何不要讓小黑亂要東西。 我們跟主人講說一定要帶狗狗散步﹐然後不要綁繩。她們說一定會改進。我們會在follow up﹐ 希望她們會說到做到。希望大家也可以多多幫助需要幫助的人﹐ 因為這樣動物福利也才會跟著好轉。If one can hardly care for themselves, how will they care for animals?

真期待明年協會的一些計劃! 保護動物不只包括犬貓﹐而其實有很多其它的動物時常被人類忽略並須要我們的關懷。近期許多國家﹐海外店家等已經開始禁止販賣魚翅。台灣還有很多的進步空間﹐我們也應該要跟進國際腳步。怎麼樣帶動一個文化道德改變﹐並讓台灣業者及大眾開始反吃魚翅呢? 今天開會的討論﹐我們結論是有很多功課要做﹐也須要有多一些行動。我們不怕﹐希望大家期待我們明年的計劃並跟著我們一起禁止不人道的虐待動物行為!

經過這兩天跟小白的相處之後，讓我非常驚訝牠是如此的溫馴可愛，雖然之前牠所住的環境和受到的對待很不好，很難想像牠會這樣的開心且帶著好奇的心跟我們一起散步，我很肯定現在牠的經歷是之前從來也沒有過的。牠好奇地看著小水池裡，感覺著踩在腳下的草地，被青蛙給嚇到也認識了新的狗朋友，還有對於上下樓梯似乎還在摸索中，這顯示了狗狗完全處在這個當下且絲毫不會受到之前的不好生活而影響未來，小白目前住在獸醫院每日費用需要300塊錢，如果您們想要幫助牠，請電郵至support@spca.org.tw或是願意當中途家庭給小白有一個溫暖充滿愛的家也請寄信到adoptions@spca.org.tw 謝謝！
After my second day of walking XiaoBai, it amazes me how loving and sweet he is, regardless of what he's been through and where he's lived.  Watching him explore on our walks is amazing, I'm sure it's the first time he's seen everything he's experiencing right now.  Curiously peering into small ponds, feeling grass under his paws, being startled by frogs and meeting new dog friends, not to mention figuring out how to go up and down stairs.  Just goes to show that dogs really do live in the moment and that his difficult past won't affect his future!  XiaoBai's boarding fees are 300nt/day, if you would like to help out with this please email support@spca.org.tw or if you would like to give him a foster home so he can finally have a warm loving home please email adoptions@spca.org.tw