This month has been a very eventful month, probably the most eventful of the year. We have had to overcome many obstacles, but we are happy to say that we have survived and kept our heads above water while making sure all our animals receive the quality care they deserve. These obstacles put a huge strain on both our financial status and also our physical abilities. In the beginning of the month we were hit by one of the biggest typhoons to hit the north of Taiwan for many years. It was a very scary time and two of our dedicated staff even camped out at the centre to make sure all the animals were safe and sound. We were lucky to only have lost power for a few hours and had only a few trees down. With the help from volunteers we were able to clean up the centre in a matter of hours. Our staff, volunteers and animals were all safe with no injuries. However, it does go to show that we really do need to find a better location as we are very prone to flooding and we were lucky that this typhoon was mainly wind and not too much rain.
Next came the rabies scare. This started out as a singular incident that was sensationalized in the news and has caused major panic amongst the local residences of Taiwan. Instead of sitting down and discussing the situation and putting out the exact facts, both the government and the media have caused a major panic around the island, which in turn has resulted in the needless killing and dumping of dogs and cats. Over 90% of the world has rabies at various degrees, but each country is able to keep it under control and even eradicate it with vaccinations and monitoring. The rabies is currently in the wild animal population in the mountains, so the first port of call is to fly in oral vaccination, which is used around the world effectively, and bait the mountain areas and vaccinate the wild life. While this is happening local residence, organizations and government bodies should be also vaccinating pets and the stray population alike. By killing the stray population or dumping your animals you are effectively leaving a path wide open for the infected wild animals to come down from the mountains and into the cities and into your homes. A vaccinated dog or cat will be able to form a barrier between you and the infected animal. A group of stray dogs will protect their area from any rabid animal and if they are vaccinated this will have no consequence to them. However, unfortunately fear has overcome logic and many animals are being put to death and dumped. Animals Taiwan is doing what we can to educate and try to calm the situation. All our animals at our centre are vaccinated yearly and are at no risk. We also chip and rabies vaccinate many of our CNR/TNR animals in the mountain areas. We are now working alongside the government and other groups to vaccinate the strays and try to stem the problem. We hope the public can calm down and just be cautious instead of panicking.
Our third obstacle was caused by the rabies scare. A local breeder was under investigation and was being evicted because of the rabies scare. So instead of trying to find a place to better take care of his animals he decided to dump them as soon as possible. One of our volunteers stepped in to at least try to rescue a few of them. This is something we will see more and more of in the future. Not just because of the rabies scare but also because people are now starting to realize how bad the breeding and pet store situation is in Taiwan. One breeder will have up to 80 animals rammed into small cages kept in an enclosed space for years. These dogs will all suffer from skin problems, bone deformities, infections and much more. 90% of them will have had their vocal cords cut. We cannot say enough times, please DO NOT BUY! ADOPT! If people stop buying, the animals stop dying! While at one of our vets one of our volunteers noticed three Beagles in cages and asked the vet why they were there. The vet explained that they had been used for medical testing at a local biotech company and were rescued by one of his colleagues. They had been spayed and vaccinated and were now waiting for loving homes. Our volunteer knew that the clinic was very busy and unable to cope with these three rambunctious dogs. So she contacted AT for help with adoption. When she went back to the vets two of them had already been adopted which left just one, so she took her in to foster and assess her personality. She found that Belinda is a very sweet and well-behaved young lady. At only 1 and a half years old she still has a lot of energy and needs a lot of attention. Beagles are
working dogs and many people think they make good apartment pets because of their size. However, a small dog doesn t always equal apartment dog. Beagles need exercise and stimulation or they will get bored and become noisy and destructive. Animals Taiwan along with the volunteer has worked hard to find a suitable home for Belinda and as you will read later were very successful. One of our volunteers was contacted about a Shiba Inu which had wandered into an area where we are helping with CNR. The Shiba Inu, Cola is very young and very friendly, but this particular area has much traffic especially trucks, so the feeding lady chained Cola up for her own safety. We decided to take her to see if she had a chip, but unfortunately she didn t and so a foster home was found and she is now up for adoption. It is extremely important that people chip their pets. We are pretty sure this little girl was once a loved companion and may have just been lost, but without a chip it is nearly impossible to find the owners again. This biggest rescue of this month has to be the 12 breeder dogs. We were contacted by a volunteer to help these dogs because the breeder was being investigated and also was being evicted. The breeder was threatening to dump or kill the animals and the volunteer couldn t stand by and do nothing. We agreed to help 12, as we have to think of our situation and all the other animals in our care. Once the 12 dogs were delivered to us by the volunteer, we had to immediately arrange space for them and start with the medical examinations and getting them cleaned up. We are extremely grateful to our staff and volunteers who jumped in to help get these poor animals who were matted, covered in faeces and whose nails where so long they could hardly walk. With a team effort the dogs were shaved and cleaned up and ready for their medical examination and spaying and neutering. There were two short haired Chihuahuas who both had heartworm and eye infections, one Yorkshire Terrier who had skin
problems and a hernia which turned out to be that her bladder had dropped into her anus due to over breeding we are grateful to the new adopter who paid for her surgery, one Cocker Spaniel who was actually in better shape than the others, two long haired Chihuahuas who both have deformities and skin problems, one of which will need surgery to repair bone damage of being locked in a small cage all her life, and finally 6 Schnauzers who all have skin problems and some have tumours and hernia as well as having their vocal cords cut. This was a heart breaking experience for all of us seeing these poor animals in this state and what was more astonishing is that every one of these dogs is friendly and trusting in humans. We really do have a lot to learn from animals. This is why we continue to advocate against buying animals from pet stores! For every cute puppy or kitten you see in the pet stores, there is a mother and father locked away in a tiny cage in warehouse, standing in its own faeces day in and day out for the whole of its life or until it is of no more use to the breeder and then will be killed or unceremoniously dumped on the streets like trash. Please remember, if everyone stops buying, the animals will stop dying.
During the pet festival one of our volunteers was riding her scooter on the way to set up when she noticed a small ratted animal by the side of the road. On closer inspection she saw it was a matted and scared little poodle. She managed to corner it and pick it up then ride one handed to the pet festival where she remembered there was a grooming van. The poodle which we named Regan, was half matted down to the skin and half bald. Her nails were so long she could really stand up and she was so dehydrated and malnourished that all she could do was shake. The kind groomers at the pet festival immediately helped us shave off the matted fur and bath her. They trimmed her nails and cleaned her ears. They did all this out of the kindness of their hearts and wouldn t accept any payment. Regan was then taken for a vet check up and spayed. She was found to be seriously malnourished and also had scabies which means she needed to be kept separate from all other animals. She is a super sweet little girl and we know once she has gained a few pounds and her fur starts to grow back, she ll find a loving home. We were contacted by a man who had previously adopted a dog who had gone lame. He had previously gotten medical help and had used up all his resources. We agreed to help him with a wheelchair for the dog and also a referral to our vet. He came to our centre with the dog and we could see that the dog had open wounds on its back legs and was in great need of medical attention and so we sent him straight to the vets. Unfortunately the infection was too
far gone and the dog wasn t strong enough, he soon passed away after visiting the vet. We hope he is now in a better place. We were also contacted about two horses down south which seemed to have been abandoned. We sent photos to one of our supporters who deals with horses and she seemed to think that at least one of the horses was severely sick. She helped us contact people in the area of the horses and we were arranging with her to get the horses medical attention and proper food. However, after a few days the horses disappeared and it is believed the owner came to collect them. We hope the horses and well and taken care of and we have asked the local people to call us if they hear of anything. TNR/ CNR Projects ( 誘捕 - 結紮 - 原地放回 / 捕捉 - 結紮 - 原地放回計畫 ) Our Taipei TNR project is has reached 392 year to date. Our volunteers are working hard catching the cats and making sure their areas are safe and agreed upon by people in the area. We have started to work with the people at the land fill in Nanggan. They have agreed to let us catch the dogs for spaying/neutering and vaccination. There are currently between 20 30 dogs in this area and with the help of the feeders we hope to be able to catch them all within 5 months. This month we were able to catch 2 females currently in heat.
This month has been a very good month for adoptions and we really hope this trend keeps up as there are many furry friends just looking for that special human. Parker has found his perfect daddy. A teacher came to visit Parker and took him out for a walk and immediately fell in love with him. We know Parker will have a great fulfilling life with his new daddy. Belinda was quickly snapped up as we knew she would be. Her new family live down south and have lots of open areas for Belinda to explore. Her new family understand that Belinda has been in a cage all her life and has some issues, but are completely willing to have patience and work with her. We ve had great photos and stories back from the adopter about her happy new life. As soon as we posted about the 12 breeder dogs we were contacted by a wonderful lady down in Kaushung. She was very interested in adopting the Yorkshire Terrier and was willing to deal with any problems she may have. After a few more postings this wonderful adopter decided that one wasn t enough and she wanted to adopt 2 of the dogs to join her pack. Vicky came up and took home Angel (the Yorkie) and QQ one of the Schnauzers. We have had wonderful photos and updates from her and both doggies are doing great.
The Cocker Spaniel was also very quickly snapped up and is now living the life of luxury. Her new daddy has experience with Cocker Spaniels and really loves Chewbie ( 啾逼 ). Again we ve had great photos and updates from her new daddy. One of our volunteers quickly snapped up one of the short haired Chihuahuas. She has been volunteering with us for a long time and has been waiting patiently for a small breed dog as she lives in a small apartment and wanted a dog which she could take with her everywhere as she has a busy schedule. She is fine with the fact that this little girl needs medication for her heartworm for a few months before she can be spayed. This little girl is now very much loved and has a life of luxury which she deserves.
Also this month little Milka has finally found her loving new home. We were quite surprised that Juicy s kittens were taking so long to find loving homes. We hope Milka s wonderful adoption is the beginning of many more. Our wonderful Rosie has gone into a foster home to give her a quieter life away from all those little puppies running around. Rosie is in her twilight years and deserves a bit of peace and quiet. We ve had great reports that she has settled down well and become very loving and playful. Orca this month was taken to one of our other vets for a second opinion on her health. Orca has been with us for a while and no matter what medication she is on or what food we try, she just doesn t put on weight. We ordered her a Cat scan and it showed that her right lung had collapsed and also that her heart had been damaged. This is why she is unable to take all nutrients from food as she doesn t have enough oxygen circulating around her body to make all her organ function properly. She now has new medication and we are hoping this will improve her situation and at least make her more comfortable. We really hope we can find a foster home for Orca where she can get the love and attention she deserves.
This month was the Pet Festival which is always busy and exciting for us. It is a four day event held at the Nang Gan Exhibition centre. Our wonderful volunteers were superstars in selling our merchandise and promoting Animals Taiwan! Over the four days we managed to sell out of most of our merchandise and raise over $130,000nt which will be put towards our new rescue centre.
If you would like to hold an event for Animals Taiwan or you have ideas for events or would even like to join our volunteer list please contact liza@animalstaiwan.org for more information. Come and check out our facebook page to keep updated on regular adoptions, events and much more. As always with all our rescues we never put a dog or cat to sleep unless the animal is suffering greatly with not much chance of recovery. We will always do our best to make sure every animal is given the best treatment and best opportunity to live a happy and loving life. We are able to continue these rescues and adoptions thanks to your generosity. Please continue check out our webpage and pass it on to any friends or family members. There are always some wonderful dogs up for adoption, so if you have any friends or family interested in adopting, please show them our website. www.animalstaiwan.org Remember Adopting saves lives! Please educate those around you to get their animal desexed and micro chipped to help decrease the stray population.