Profile of animal welfare in Taiwan public animal shelters(2008-2009)
Date Issued
2010
Date
2010
Author(s)
Lan, Dang-Jie
Abstract
Public animal shelters provide temporary husbandry and health care for stray or relinquished animals in the community. Under the circumstances of limited resources and poor environment, animal welfare in the shelters is inevitably compromised. This study attempts to depict the profile of animal welfare in Taiwan public animal shelters both quantitatively (shelter statistics study: 2008/08/01-2009/07/31) and qualitatively (field environment assessment: 2009/10/21-2009/12/09).
According to shelter statistics study, in Taiwan, the influx of sheltered animals is chiefly by Animal Control Officer (ACO) capture. On the other hand, the efflux of sheltered animals is chiefly by euthanasia, and the amount of euthanized animals per month is determined by the influx of animals per month. Besides, turnover time in Taiwan public animal shelters is mostly between 7 to 14 days. Some shelters’ turnover time is shorter than mandatory holding period (7 days) with excessive euthanasia rate. Also, some other shelters’ turnover time is far longer than mandatory holding period with crowded space for sheltered animals. Moreover, positive correlation was found between turnover time and fatality rate (Spearman’s Rho=0.592). Other statistic results include low adoption rate and low redemption rate. In general, sheltered animals end up with euthanasia. A few shelters’ amount of fatality is approximate to the amount of euthanized animals or even lower than the amount of euthanized animals, suggesting sheltered animals are not free from disease, therefore poor animal welfare is implicated.
Alternatively, field environment assessment illustrates that most public shelters in Taiwan don’t provide animals with outdoor access, and among these shelters, near 90% of them don’t provide playground for sheltered animals, making animals live in the restrictive condition. In addition, a few shelters keep animals in singly-housed condition with no visual contact with conspecifics and humans, preventing sheltered animals from social behavior and subsequently developing abnormal behavior. Also, in order to increase capacity, platform is very common in Taiwan public animal shelters; however, most of them are poorly designed and incapable of promoting animal welfare.
In the end, this study integrates other animal welfare issues in Taiwan public shelters, including: 1. Isolation, quarantine, adoption areas are marked unclearly; 2. Facilities are antiquated or deteriorated; 3. Poor geographic accessibility for visitor.; 4. Poor intensive care for animals in need; 5. Shelter personnel is lacking in veterinary advise or lacking in enthusiasm about animals.
Subjects
animal shelter
animal welfare
environmental enrichment
turnover time
kennel environment
canine welfare
SDGs
Type
thesis
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