Time

Content

Activity photo

2011/01/25

12:00

Lunch

After everyday’s meeting, we would cook the noodles in a big pot in the classroom. The pot was full of materials; we couldn't wait to taste it carefully. We ate quickly and started the tour in the afternoon.

(Filling our bellies )

13:10

Setting out

Participants included: Xu Shengwei, Deng Jiajun, Liang Zhilun, Liang Fangyu, Liang Yanping, Xu Wenhan, Liang Yujie, Zhang Wenshuai, Su Yufen, Xie Weiyuan, Xiao Kejie, Chen Wanjun, Cai Weixuan, Wei Yuan’s mother, Teacher Du, and Teacher Hong. We took a phone at the school gate happily. We were ready to go!

14:00

Reaching the Halfway House

After losing and asking directions, we finally heard dogs’ barking, smell, much hair, a lot of garbage (because the Halfway House locates next to a landfill), and fresh dog shit. We knew that we arrived.

14:05

Doctor Hong was the guide.

Doctor Hong asked us whether we knew why there were so many stray dogs. Then he introduced the capture tools and methods used by the cleaning squad.

14:15

Visiting the adoption area

Moderate, relatively well-behaved, or famous dogs were placed in the adoption area, because they had more chances to be adopted.

14:25

Visiting the temporary storing zone

The captured stray dogs and cats were respectively placed in Puppy Region, Male Dog Region, Female Dog Region, Cat Region, and Observation Room. They seemed scared. We couldn’t bear to see their eyes.

14:40

Interacting with dogs

They released the dogs in the adoption zone to interact with us.

There were hyperactive dogs, and lazy dogs who only wanted to sleep on the grass. Every dog is friendly!

Taking photos with dogs intimately

We also took a photo with the oldest dog. Look at the hair which turned white around the eyes and mouth. It also had a talent - shaking hands; and it never refused anyone.

Questioning during the interaction process

Taking the advantage of this opportunity, we asked Doctor Hong a lot of questions, such as locations, tools and methods for capturing animals, how do they view the significance of their work, how do they view animal protection groups, etc.

15:10

Preparing to go back to school

We took a photo with dogs before leaving. We also remembered to wash our hands for disinfection. In this way, the bacteria will not be brought home to infect our pets!

15:40

Arriving at school

Doctor Hong also brought many publicity DMs to us, and hoped that we could publicize the correct concept when we went back. We gained so much knowledge from this visit, and we also renewed our view towards the shelter.

Questioner

Question / Answer

Activity photos

Dr. Hong

Question: who could answer me, why there are these stray animals?

Wei Xuan answers: the dogs are not neutered, so they reproduce a lot of puppies. Owners would abandon the dogs when they do not want to raise them any longer.

Yu Jie answers: they think it is too troublesome to care for dogs.

Dr. Hong sums up: yes, these are very important reasons, and there is another reason: at the start, the owner hasn’t thought too much, only has thought that the dog is very cute, or since other people are raising pets, I can have one, too. But the owner finds that the dog likes biting and barking after taking it home. Being too lazy to teach the pet, the owner abandons it directly. Therefore, there are a lot of stray animals now.

Question: if you find a stray dog or cat around your house, what could you do?

Jia Jun answers: we could take it to the shelter, and to see if anyone wants to adopt it.

Zhi Lun answers: we could try to find an adopter for it. First we shall neuter it, and then we could ask if anyone wants to adopt it.

Dr. Hong sums up: if you discover an unfriendly large stray dog in your community, the best way is to stand still and don’t look into its eyes. Most dogs just come to smell people. It is quite impossible that it wants to bite you when it sees you. Don't scream or run, or the dog might misunderstand that you are challenging it, and bite you.

It is very kind of you if you help it be neutered. However, if you encounter a large dog, please first remember to protect your own safety and prevent getting hurt. If you see a litter of newly-born puppies and its mother, don’t touch the cute puppies at will. Because the dog mother might think you want to hurt her babies, and attack you.

If your food drops on the ground and be picked by a dog, don't try to get it back, in order to avoid hurting by the dog. If Stray dogs are not inclined to attack us if we pay attention to these points.

Question: are there any other methods which could reduce stray animals?

Dr. Hong answers: in addition to neuter it, we could implant chips to household pets. In this way, they won’t become stray animals when they lose their ways. The implanted chips could help people identify them and send them back home. Don’t feed stray animals at will. If you feed them, they will find more companions to live near your home, and they will reproduce more stray animals. If a stray dog is fed, it will find more stray dogs to live here together.

（Wei Xuan answers）

The navigation process(21minute 22 second)

The implanted chips(7minute 57 second)

Wei Xuan

Question: why the shelter is built at such a remote place?

Answer: because dogs’ hair, smell, barking, or other environmental and sanitary problems will lead to the residents’ protests. Therefore, in order to solve these problems, the shelter chooses to be built far away from crowded places. In fact, a lot of public shelters choose to be built in the mountains, by the sea or the stream, so as to prevent disturbing nearby houses.

(A remote place)

Zhi Lun

Question: are there any people regularly reporting about stray animals’ locations, or are there any people patrolling regularly? Where do you always go to catch stray animals?

Answer: both high streets and back lanes, for example, someone will ask the cleaning squad to catch the stray dog after seeing one bites the garbage.

(Zhi Lun asks a question.)

Yu Fen

Question: how many people in a team when catching the stray animals? Which methods and tools will you use?

Answer: usually, there are two people in a team. But two people are always not enough for catching dogs; especially in an open area, it may need five people to round up.

The tools include dog-capture stick and dog-capture net. First, place the stick’s rope loop around the dog’s neck; the loop is automatically retractable. Then pull the dog into the cage, loosen the loop, and shut the door of the cage. Finally, put the cage onto the car. These are the correct procedures. But many squad members directly throw the dog onto the car after caught it with the rope.  Of course the second process is wrong, and requisite to be improved.

Being tested by American Animal Protection Association, the dog-capture stick won’t hurt dogs. A rubber sheath is installed around its tip, so that when the dog is caught, although it bit the stick to escape, its mouth won’t bleed. There is also a circle of plastic layer around the loop. In the past, this part is made of iron wire, causing the dogs hurt and bled. One dog-capture stick will cost NTD 6000. But they often break only after two or three months because the dogs will struggle. Repairing the stick will cost NTD 2000.

If we use the dog-capture net, we will put the net on the ground, inducing the dog into the net and wrap the net up. Then we will place the dog into the cage and put the cage into the car. We choose to use this tool most of the time in these days, because we are afraid that the squad members may throw the dogs directly onto the car. The dogs may be hurt in that way. When residents see that, they will protest. So, at present, we use nets more often. We also provide lessons to cleaning squad members, and teach them how to avoid hurting the dogs.

(Dog-capture stick)

How to catching the stray animals(3minute 41 second)

Jia Jun

Question: what are the varieties of the captured stray animals?

Answer: they are mostly hybrid dogs. There are also Beagles, golden retrievers, huskies, Schnauzers, andLabradors.

(A Beagle)

Wan Jun

Question: after capturing the dogs, do you need to check whether there are implanted chips?

Answer: yes. It is necessary to plant chips into your pets, so they won’t become stray animals after they lose their ways. The chip contains the data of the pet, and will be injected onto the dog’s neck by special injector. When it couldn’t find its owner, people could scan the chip via the scanner. After knowing the data of this pet and its owner, its owner could be found quickly. Of course, neutering animals is also a method for reducing stray animals.

(Scanning the chip)

Fang Yu

Question: how often do you perform the euthanasia?

Answer: if the caught dogs are famous varieties or friendly, we will keep them longer. People like to adopt golden retrievers and Maltese dogs. If the dog is malicious or has skin disease, we will perform the euthanasia if nobody wants it within 12 days. The space in a shelter is limited; in order to make room for new dogs, euthanasia must be carried out upon some dogs. Currently, more than 200 dogs would be euthanatized per fortnight. Then we will invite animal cremation companies to collect the bodies. The cremation ashes could be used as organic fertilizer for plants.

(A friendly dog)

the euthanasia(1minute49second)

Sheng Wei

Question: what is the euthanasia process for animals not adopted?

Answer: we will inject excessive anesthetics to them; they will fall asleep and die painless.

(Sheng Wei asks a question.)

Yan Ping

Question: which kind of dog is the most likely to be adopted?

Answer: the golden retriever and the Maltese dog. Currently, the government requires that the adopter must be above 20 years old. In this case, the adopter is able to think clearly. If the dog is adopted by a child, the actual caregiver would be the parents. When no one wants to take care of it, the pet is likely to be abandoned.

(Shaking hands withthe golden retriever)

Yu Jie

Question: please talk about the advantages and disadvantages of current practice of the animal protection groups.

Answer: some appropriate reports are necessary, and we must improve. But some of their requirements we could not satisfy. Some squad members behave wrongly in catching dogs and really need someone to correct them and make them know that people are watching. However, some criticisms of the animal protection groups are merely irresponsible remarks. For example, they want us to neuter all the stray dogs and then release them to the streets, just like the popular TNR. Why is this impossible?

These dogs are caught because they troubled the residents. They may bite people, chase vehicles, and bite garbage. That’s why residents asked us to catch them. If we send them back, the problems will reoccur. 

If people want the stray animals to accept TNR in a place, the local residents must be able to accept dogs running in the vicinity. They will pick up the dog shit when they see it. They will clean the rubbish after a dog bit it. TNR could be implemented when residents have this kind of civism.

TNR for cats are very famous in Houdong of Taipei. The vets here neuter them regularly, and the inhabitants there could also accept them in the vicinity. The cats also become very friendly. Many tourists have been there and got some very beautiful pictures of the lazy cats. That place has become a tourist attraction. The cats there are just like family members, and are fed by nearby residents together.

(Yu Jie asks aquestion.)

the advantages and disadvantages of current practice of the animal protection groups(3minute32second)

Yu Jie

Question: Dr. Hong, how long have you engaged in this job?

Answer: more than two years.

Q: how do you view the significance of your work?

Answer: we shall find the significance of our work by ourselves. Now that I am doing this job, I would try my best to help those homeless dogs and cats to find new homes. They are sent to this place because nobody wants them. We shall help them find their advantages here, and help them be seen by the new masters. Perhaps this will give them a way out and getting out of here. Staying too long would be euthanized. 

(Significance of the work)