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Improving Rural Free-Roaming Dog Management: New Taipei Animal Protection Office Sterilizes 2,213 Dogs and Cats This Year

From Liberty Times · () Chinese

Translated from Chinese and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • New Taipei City's Animal Protection and Health Inspection Office is working with community groups in Sanzhi and Shimen to manage free-roaming dogs through identification, sterilization and responsible care.
  • Residents, neighborhood chiefs and animal protection officials have helped report and capture unsterilized dogs, with nine identified across the two communities.
  • The city sterilized 2,213 free-roaming dogs and cats from January through July, following 4,148 sterilizations last year.

Free-roaming dogs are a familiar sight in rural communities, but New Taipei officials say letting dogs roam can bring risks ranging from traffic accidents and vehicle chasing to bites, unwanted breeding and animals going missing. It can also create friction among residents.

The city's Animal Protection and Health Inspection Office has begun shifting its approach from simply catching animals to managing them at the source. The program covers checking dog populations, sterilization and better ownership management, with local communities helping identify animals and coordinate with authorities.

In Sanzhi District's Gongrong community and Shimen District's Songshan community, officials found nine unsterilized free-roaming dogs. Gongrong Community Development Association Chairman Wu Si-wei and Baxian Neighborhood Chief Yang Zhen-feng worked with residents, who reported the dogs before the animal protection office helped capture and sterilize them. In Songshan, Community Development Association Chairman Zheng Xi-ming and Shanxi Neighborhood Chief Xu A-huang worked together to promote sterilization and management of community dogs.

Animal protection management is not simply a matter of catching them and considering the job finished.

· New Taipei City Animal Protection and Health Inspection OfficeThe office said authorities must identify the sources and numbers of dog groups and sterilize the animals to gradually reduce their population.

The two outreach events drew about 90 residents. Officials explained how to manage free-roaming dogs and promoted animal protection, seeking to establish a system in which residents share responsibility for managing animals in their communities.

Veterinarian Hsieh Hung-pin said the office continues to conduct sterilization drives and mobile medical services in rural areas. It held 34 rural sterilization events last year, sterilizing 709 dogs and cats, and held 16 events from January through May this year, assisting with the sterilization of 431 animals. Across New Taipei, 2,213 free-roaming dogs and cats had been sterilized by the end of July, following 4,148 last year. The office said sterilization can reduce breeding and free-roaming problems at their source. Residents who find injured animals or animals needing rescue can call the 1959 animal protection rescue hotline.

The office continues to conduct rural sterilization drives and mobile medical services.

· Hsieh Hung-pin, veterinarianHsieh described the office's ongoing outreach work and the number of animals sterilized through rural events.
About this summary

Originally published by Liberty Times in Chinese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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