| 您的小狗是否讲中文？ |  |
Thirteen dogs have boarded a flight to the United States to find new homes there, in the latest attempt to save some of Taiwan’s many stray dogs, animal rescue workers said Sunday.
The dogs were rescued from southern Taiwan’s Kaohsiung City, where they were found to have been abused or suffering from illnesses, rescue workers said. The dogs were first taken by train from Kaohsiung to Taipei before boarding the flight.
It is hoped that by taking the dogs to shelters in the U.S., their chances of being adopted will increase.
Since 2004, the rescue team has carried out more than 200 such cases, flying a total of 1,470 animals rescued in Taiwan to North America, by cooperating with similar organizations in the U.S and Canada.
I wanted to write a post about the organization that I volunteer with, and where we rescued our corgi, Rocky from. The group is called Ocean Dog Rescue and works to rescue dogs from Taiwan and find forever homes for them in Vancouver, BC.
And now you know the best kept secret of the animal rights racket. Shelters have been long importing strays to supply demand for puppies, while lobbying the public for financial donations, and governments for anti-breeding legislation, all in the name of ending “pet overpopulation”.
Related – Regina Humane Society imports Ontario pit bulls. Because they don’t have enough of their own, I guess!
but rescuing Asian strays is much sexier!
Kate,
It’s not just the country that’s run by crazy people but the animal welfare industry as well! What a stupid waste of resources! Also, I sincerely hope that the North American quarantine system is effective or else these imports are an invitation to disaster. You’re the expert on this stuff Kate; should we be screaming at Food and Agriculture Canada? Of course, if something nasty is imported into the US, it will migrate here too since we don’t quarantine at that border.
A side story:
When I worked in Taiwan, my five-year-old daughter had a couple of mongrel pups that someone had left in our garden. My family left for Canada a few weeks before me, and I inherited the mutts. Before they left, I innocently asked our maid, in the presence of my daughter, if she knew of anyone who might take them off of our hands. She said brightly, “Oh yes, vely easy, puppy dog vely tasty”. Ouch! The outcome of that exchange was that I had to swear a blood oath that I’d find a good home for them before I left Taiwan. I did too.
Is Kinsella involved in this?
What a waste of leftist guilt. I wonder if next we will have Hindus coming here, saving cows from the butcher and shipping them by Air to India where they are treated properly.
Why, oh why can’t some folks just NOT get involved in a local foodchain…oh right because they KNOW how to live better then the rest of the world and feel compelled to foist it on the unsuspecting.
I see a juxtaposition in today’s stories.
I 您的小狗是否讲中文 Taiwanese for WTF ?
Wow. That’s even more evil than I thought they were. Which is saying something.
I guess its the same thing as bureaucracies everywhere, when the problem they were created to solve starts to get solved, they have to rush around and find, or make, a new problem.
God forbid they should just get a new job, right? That’s for peons.
“Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses longing to be free…”
?
wait a minute, wrong thread…
This is where Angeliena Jolie gets her puppies
Wanna bet these dogs are better than our dogs at math?
What is the carbon footprint of this and who pays?
Well, at least these puppies survived to die another day, and did not end up laying along side a hefty serving of maruchin noodles.
Kate makes a good point.
But what is the historical reason why some cultures have so little respect for dogs?
They are smart animals and can be very loyal.
Cats rule! Dogs drool.
What’s wrong with eating dog? Where are people’s priorities?
Kate, you certainly have a lot of experience with dogs, but my experience contradicts your “Shelters have been long importing strays to supply demand for puppies”.
Do you mean that there is a shortage of young dogs (puppies) and a surplus of older dogs?
Here in Montreal, there are dozens of private, volunteer shelters that cannot find homes for their dogs and cats…
“Here in Montreal, there are dozens of private, volunteer shelters that cannot find homes for their dogs and cats…”
I live close to Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta. Our shelter system imports small dogs in this province to fill the demand (from California mainly). Larger dogs are still difficult to place. This scenario currently in shelters does not, to me, indicate overpopulation as much as a problem with poor judgement on the behalf of those originally obtaining dogs, and then giving up on them. That is a different issue altogether.
Marquette, MI started implementing changes based on philosophies touted by Nathan Winograd and they saw the kill rate in their open admission shelter drop from 60% to 7% over two years.
Yeabiscuit has some interesting blogposts on this topic, and why some shelters are failing, while others are placing their healthy and adoptables, and then some (importing). Overpopulation is not at the center of why shelters can’t place animals, although the concept is an easy sell and fundraiser which is why the myth is continued.
http://www.nathanwinograd.com/linked/marquette.PDF
http://yesbiscuit.wordpress.com/2010/12/11/upaws-doing-it/
http://yesbiscuit.wordpress.com/2010/12/09/why-your-shelter-is-failing/
http://yesbiscuit.wordpress.com/2009/03/11/the-no-kill-movement-and-pet-population/
Kary
I have three dogs, all of them rescues. The adoption process was so intrusive and difficult to go through that for the last one (adopted two months ago), I almost gave up and “purchased” a dog in a pet shop instead. For most rescue organizations, you’re a potential animal abuser so those control freaks test and evaluate you with very personal questions and even visit your home to see if you are good enough to their liking. It was a humiliating experience.
I don’t understand why from Taiwan only? Aren’t there any stray dogs in other countries? And as for the last comment about the procedure od=f adopting these animals, it seems that people who rescue them should be kind (and they definitely are!) but they should also believe in kindness among other people too! But they make them undergo some humiliating things instead!
Alan, had friends who experienced the same thing when dealing with the SPCA. They got so fed up that in the end they gave up and bought a dog from a pet shop.
It’s not just Taiwan – they’ve been bringing over dogs from the middle east, Puerto Rico, etc. to supply the “shelters”.
In the lower mainland area around Vancouver, local SPCA’s in suburbs near Vancouver, routinely bring in dogs from up north from cities such as Prince George. There are simply more people wanting dogs here. It seems like a good system.
Tj, the Humane Society-Calgary won’t let you adopt a dog or even meet with him/her until you give them your driver’s license number and fill in a long and intrusive questionnaire. I asked why, and their answer was that they want to check our background to see if we weren’t banned from having a dog. Furthermore, there was a *mandatory* class that came with the dog (with a fee of course), even if I have decades of experience with rescued dogs including ones with behaviour problems. I said no, I’m out of here you control freaks. All girls, as you probably guessed it.
Alan @ 3:46 PM – I live in Calgary and about four years ago obtained a dog from the humane society. I did not find the questionnaire all that long or intrusive; the possibility of dogs being eaten was actually mentioned. I admit the class was not extremely helpful (I have been involved with dogs before, probably less than you) but they claimed they wanted to make sure the rescued dogs did not end up going through the system again due to lack of knowledge on the part of the owner.
Our dog came from the Edmonton SPCA and was a California airlift dog. Otherwise most of the local strays they get in are these monstrous pit bull/shepherd/doberman maladjusted animals. They come from drug houses, or from insecure losers who have to have a big dog to make up for their small peni$ and then discover they can’t look after it because they’re, well, losers.
My understanding is that the small California dogs are flown up here by a private businesswoman, as a back haul with her company’s otherwise empty plane.
If people just pretended dogs were like humans, it would be easier to perform late term abortions.
Before I got my cats in Miami, the cat lady came to my house to inspect it. Sheesh.
Have to recommend the NYC Shelters. Got three dogs there, two had been found on the street, and one had been turned in by the owner. There was a one-minute form to fill out, that was it, and we walked out w/ wonderful dogs. No home inspection, no complex questionnaires, no classes. There were a lot of really nice people adopting dogs, nice workers, a lot of homegrown NYC animals, and the whole process was pleasant.
i know that a lot of the volunteer shelters in NYC are very intrusive. Much worse than the public pound.
Alan, I share your annoyance. I spent months looking for a specific, not rare, breed on PetFinder which is fed by local pounds as well as volunteer organizations. I live on six acres with one road running through it that only serves our small acreage neighborhood. The questionnaires took an hour to fill out, demanded a home visit as well as over $400 U.S. & up per dog. After several unsuccessful submissions, a friend of mine associated with a couple of the charities told me that no one would ever allow me to adopt as long as my acreage wasn’t fenced. I then went back to the uber-mix that had been looking at me as the #1 search return on PetFinder down at the country pound, bought him for $150 [!!] and have enjoyed his company since. When I decided to get a long-haired Chihuahua, I bit the bullet and drove to KC to get one from a breeder. There are thousands of puppy mill chihuahuas needing adoption and this is the result of the animal charity strategy. I suspect they’re holding the pure breds up as alternative revenue streams, furthermore.
I don’t mind moving the animals around for adoption within the continent. Mexican dogs if any deserve and need rescue programs pronto. The county pound on this side of the river, south of a small town, regularly exports their dogs and cats over to the large city across the river where they’re more likely to find a home and where there are more kennels. Bringing them over from Asia seems extreme, and if we’re actually being suckered by the humane societies there are ethics issues. The humane society across the river isn’t helpful unless you bring animals in. If one needs help capturing feral animals, they’re not interested.