Dying Lives in 50 years: A Brief History of Taiwan's stray animals. (1) 1. When Strays Become a Social Problem (1965－) According to the newspaper, the earliest discussion about public order and environment issue which was caused by strays was from 1965. Just at that time, strays became a social problem. Although government tended to register the dogs’ master in force in 1969, it was Ineffective. After decades passed, strays became the first public nuisance in Taipei Capital City in 1994. In 1950s, it was infested with rabies in Taiwan. In order to control the epidemic, government united the police agency, department of health and council of agriculture to slaughter strays and ask register the pets’ owner. This serial actions restrained rabies in Taiwan indeed, and made government announce that rabies was vanished in Taiwan in 1959. We speculate there was not a large amount of strays to become a social problem, because of the slaughter and dog meat selling like hot cakes. To our confusion, from 1959 rabies was vanished, to 1965 strays became the social issue, what happened in this six years? From 1965 to 1994, the strays became the first nuisance, what did government respond in almost thirty years? (To be continued…)

Dying Lives in 50 years: A Brief History of Taiwan's stray animals. (Foreword 3-3) This issue has its own history in Taiwan. From 1965, a number of stray dogs rose up; it was overwhelming for the environment and brought about public security problems. The government set up dogcatcher teams in response to the demand by folks to solve the problem, caught the stray dogs uninhabited areas, where no one would witness the killing of the animals in “creative” and “efficient” ways. In 1988, the first non-for profit shelter for stray dogs petitioned the government to not destroy stray dogs in a cruel way, but to take a more humane approach in killing the animals in order to reduce the suffering while solving this problem. Subsequently, Taiwan’s animal protection law was legislated in 1998 by a grassroots movement. It made this issue on the basis of law. Over 50 years have passed since 1965, and the situation has not changed that much. There are still lots of stray animals in the environment. This article intends to review this issue in Taiwan, and it includes the origin of stray animals; when it became a social problem; how the government faced this problem; how grassroots got involved in this problem around the period of martial law in Taiwan; and what kinds of changes took place after 1998, the year Taiwan’s animal protection law was legislated. After we look back, we can understand the issue of Taiwan’s stray animals, and realize the situation has not changed that much. Their destinies are still tragic.

Dying Lives in 50 years: A Brief History of Taiwan's stray animals. (Foreword 3-2) Later on, I found out that there were some people and organizations that were focusing on and caring for stray animals as I was growing up. Furthermore, many people joined the animal protection movement because as they dabbled in the issue of stray animals. I am a real instance example of this. Taiwan’s animal protection movement has existed since the 1990s. In Taiwan, caring about the issue of wildlife conservation and companion animals is more acceptable than caring about the issue of animals being used for entertainment, experimentation, food and clothes. Taiwan has attached importance to wildlife conservation since economic sanctions in 1992 on account of wildlife products transaction. It buffeted Taiwan’s international image at that occasion. Therefore wildlife conservation has been advanced to a national level in order to save the face. After that, the government has protected against specific species and habitats, and reduced to interference in the environment. On the other side, stray animals are caused by abandonment and puppy mills. This is costly for the government and animal protection agencies, but not the perpetuators. Moreover, companion animals are close to the masses, and resonate more with society. For these reasons, companion animals is the most popular and greatest attention issue. For these reasons, the issue on companion animals gets more attention. Observing the organizations which have been established from 1990s to nowadays, rescuing stray animals from killing and maltreatment and being killed are the main object of most organizations. If we check the cost and the number of animal protection organizations, companion animals are still a focal point in this movement in Taiwan. (To be continued…)

Dying Lives in 50 years: A Brief History of Taiwan's stray animals. (Foreword 2-1) Have you ever seen a stray cat or dog while walking outdoors? Or have you looked into its eyes unguardedly? It might escape as a slash, or be on a heightened state of alert while it most likely goes toward you slowly, wags its tail or meow, wishes that you give it some food, love, and a home, just like its missing master. Because of my past experiences of encountering them on streets, I came upon the issue of stray animals. In the 1990s, I attended primary school on the outskirts of Taipei. My school was near the mountains. There were many stray dogs around my school, my community, and on the way to school. Discussing them in our daily life was normal. Once on a cold morning, I saw a dead frozen dog, it was stuffed in a cracked bucket with only its body exposed above in a spiral. Another memory I have is that of a rainy day; I saw a dead cat under a street light, and I hardly picked it up, as it was hundreds or thousands kilograms. My charitable neighbor adopted four or five stray dogs. She often took other stray animals to be ligatured, helped them find homes, and dealt with the dead stray animals that were maltreated by humans. At that time, I usually wondered how stray dogs come about? Why are there so many stray animals on streets? Where were their master? Why has this situation become a problem for me? People like me or my charitable neighbor, who felt anguish over the suffering are labeled "insane" in our compassion for the animals. We are really weird to people who live in the fast-paced city. After all, most people think it is a normal thing for stray animals to be on streets, alive or dead; it is unimportant to them. When people come across stray animals, they often have the "Do not trouble me, or I will call animal patrol" attitude. (To be continued…)