Pet registration and management of the pet industry

The COA has been working to persuade citizens to accept a “lifetime commitment” to their pets and to stop pet abandonment. A pet registration system has been in place since September 1, 1999, requiring that dog owners register and implant identity chips in their pets. There were 100,091 new registrations of dogs in 2011, bringing the grand total of registered dogs to 970,000 as of the end of December of that year. Efforts to enforce the chip and registration rule were stepped up in 2011, and local governments conducted 10,822 inspections of pets, warning owners to rectify problems in 4899 cases and handing out administrative punishments in 17 cases.

To improve controls at the source, the COA is intensifying efforts to halt illegal breeding of dogs for sale. In 2011 we cracked down strongly on illegal breeding operations and the illicit trade in dogs. Local governments investigated a total of 4716 cases, with punishments and confiscations in 75 cases. They also conducted surveys and evaluations of all legally registered pet-industry firms, helping consumers to identify well-run and ethical businesses and protecting the rights and interests of consumers and animals.

Testing of pet food sold on the market

In 2009 the government’s Consumer Protection Committee designated the COA to be the governing agency at the central government level for “pets and related products.” In 2010 we began testing pet food for harmful content (including aflatoxins, trichloroethylene, melamine, lead, cadmium, mercury, and arsenic) and in the latter half of the same year we added further tests for salmonella.

In 2011 we conducted tests on 300 samples of pet food. For aflatoxins in particular, because they are especially dangerous for pets, we required all products to meet international norms. In May of 2011, when the story broke about use of plasticizers in human food, we moved to relieve the concerns of pet owners by random-sample testing of canned pet foods, pet health supplements, and kibble; we found no plasticizer content in any of the 32 samples tested. At the same time we examined the packaging and labels of all the tested products, and discovered that nine of them did not conform to the requirements of the Commodity Labeling Act. In some cases the labelling failed to clearly indicate the address of the importing firm, and in others the name and address of the manufacturer were not in Chinese. We have already passed these cases on to the local governments with jurisdiction for further investigation and handling under the law.

Management of animal shelters and impoundment centers

The COA has been working for some time now to get local governments to close the crude facilities erected for animal impoundment by local sanitation crews and to build animal shelters managed at the county or city level. So far 18 local governments have built such facilities, while another four have subcontracted the work to community shelters or veterinarians. There are now 38 state-run shelters across Taiwan, and the COA has been overseeing the formulation by local governments of uniform standards and standard operating procedures, in order to raise the quality of operations. State-run facilities took in 112,051 dogs and cats in 2011, of which citizens adopted 22,800, an adoption rate of 20.35%, versus only 17.3% in 2010. Humane met hods were used to euthanize 64,896, for a rate of 57.9%; this figure has shown a declining trend over time.

Our 2011 survey of the domestic dog population showed that 1.23 million dogs were being raised as pets in Taiwan. Of these, 10.1% were born in the owner’s home, 24.4% were bought, 25.9% were given to the owner by someone else, 18.9% were found on the streets, and 15.3% were adopted from shelters. These figures suggest that more could be done to encourage citizens to adopt from shelters. The COA will continue to promote the idea of adoption as a substitute for purchase of a dog, and to encourage people to take lifetime responsibility for their pets, so as to make headway against the problem of large numbers of homeless dogs.

Humane treatment of economic and experimental animals

In 2011 the COA conducted 40 on-site inspections of institutions where animals are used in applied science. We provided guidance to various institutions to make sure that they conform to relevant COA regulations by creating an effective and autonomous monitoring mechanism and are implementing the 3Rs: replacement, reduction, and refinement. We also offered two courses in humane management of animals, issued 328 certifications, and published a yearbook on humane treatment of experimental animals which we distributed to all 218 institutions where animals are used in applied science, with the aim of improving the well-being of animals used for experimental purposes in Taiwan.

The COA has adopted regulations to govern transportation methods for swine, cattle, and goats as well as humane slaughtering of livestock and poultry, and to govern training for those in relevant industries. To ensure that these regulations are enforced, we oversee local governments in conducting 350 inspections per year of animal transport or slaughtering operations. As of the end of 2011, 2802 persons received certifications for having attended classes on animal transportation, and we held 12 lectures for persons in the animal transport business and 19 more for those in the slaughtering business, with a total of 1400 attendees. Our goal is to steadily upgrade professionalism and awareness in regard to animal welfare.