Dog meat trade has appeared again in Taiwan. Both the buyers and sellers are Vietnamese. What is surprising is that the Vietnamese woman involved in the case is similar to running a dog meat farm, raising, slaughtering and then selling the carcasses.
During a televised debate, U.S. presidential candidate Trump criticized immigrants for eating dogs and cats, causing an uproar. Though Trump’s perception may be wrong, on the other side of the Pacific, Taiwan is suffering from a case of migrant workers and immigrants are eating cats and dogs illegally. Recently, an animal protection group discovered an illegal livestock farm in Guanyin Township, Taoyuan, where dogs were kept in cages like chickens and ducks. The whistleblower pointed out that Vietnamese women would slaughter and ship the animals after receiving orders for Vietnamese migrant workers.
Taiwan legislated a ban on the slaughter and sale of cat and dog meat as early as 1998, and in 2017 it legislated a ban on cat and dog meat to implement the goal of "no consumption, no killing." However, in 2018, an uncle and nephew from Miaoli were still involved in a case in which they adopted stray dogs and then sold them to Taichung businessmen for slaughter and supply to Vietnamese migrant workers. After this case, the incident of Vietnamese migrant workers trading dog meat disappeared for a while. From the case of Guanyin Township in Taoyuan, it seems that the dog meat trade has never ended, but the supply plan has been "upgraded". The use of stray dogs is replaced by a model of raising, killing, and selling dogs, which also makes transactions between foreigners more difficult to detect by the outside world.
This case was reported twice by the whistleblower to the Taoyuan City Animal Welfare Office before personnel came forward to investigate the scene and notified the animal protection group "Faith for Animals", an NGO, to help sterilize the dogs. Fortunately, the NGO's investigators were alert and It was found that there were 32 dogs of various sizes in the illegal ranch. They were all very afraid of people. Their living conditions were no different from those of other chickens, ducks and poultry. They were fed similar food waste and were hung upside down by their hind legs. In addition, the association’s investigation The police officer met the whistleblower and finally understood the outline of the matter. The Vietnamese woman suspected of raising and killing dogs was the informant’s ex-wife. The informant decided to report the incident after witnessing his ex-wife slaughtering the dogs.
The dogs live in a poor environment, obviously lack interaction with people, and will panic when anyone approaches.
The CEO of Faith in Animals, Guo Xuan, funded the establishment of an "Animal Guardian" team to assist public agencies in investigating dog meat cases after knew that after Taiwan legislated a ban on dog meat under the push by World Dog Alliance. Therefore, after discovering the case, he immediately notified The Taiwanese staff of the World Dog Alliance to jointly request the Taoyuan City Animal Protection Office to move the case to the prosecutors and police for investigation as soon as possible.
At present, this case has entered the investigation process of the District Attorney's Office. 32 dogs have been confiscated by the passive protection office, 4 have been given to the care of halfway houses, and the other 28 have been placed in new housing shelters, including puppies that are still suckling their mother. Faith in Animals has repeatedly called on those with the means to give these dogs a home, while expressing outrage at the illegal behaviors of this Vietnamese woman who has lived in Taiwan for many years, has a good financial situation, and drives a luxury car, and yet was still found to have killed dogs.
As early as 2014, the World Dog Alliance knew of the Vietnamese practice of eating dogs and cats while filming the documentary "Eating Happiness". It is just to satisfy their appetite, not because they are poor and cannot afford other meat. Just like this Vietnamese woman who is blinded by profits at the expense of the suffering of animals. According to Taiwan’s official data, there are 117,034 Vietnamese who have married into Taiwan, and there are more than 260,000 Vietnamese migrant workers. When Taiwan’s promotion of the Animal Protection Act is insufficient and enforcement actions are not in place, speculators will take advantage of legal loopholes. The World Dog Alliance will continue to pay attention to the investigation results of this case, and we also ask the people of Taiwan to join us in protecting animals and supervising these lawless elements.
Of the 32 dogs that were confiscated, 28 were placed in the new shelter, including many newborn puppies.
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