Want China Times
Date: 2015-06-21
By: CNA
Taiwan authorities are asking employers of foreign workers in Taiwan and recruitment agencies to
A stray dog at a pet shop in Tauyuan, April 30. (File photo/Kan Chia-wen)
step up animal rights education to help prevent incidents of cats or dogs being eaten, the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) under the country’s Ministry of Labor said.
Most of Taiwan’s foreign workers come from Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, where it is legal to eat cats and dogs. Some migrant workers have been seen preparing meals using cat or dog meat, sometimes leading to arguments with local people and even court cases.
According to Taiwan’s Animal Protection Act (revised in February 2015), anyone found to have caused the death of a dog or a cat or other animals banned from slaughter is subject to a maximum prison sentence of one year, in conjunction with a fine of between NT$100,000-$1 million (US$3,250-$32,550).
The southern city of Tainan saw a case each in 2013 and 2014. In one of the cases, a foreign worker was fined NT$50,000 (US$1,600) for killing a dog under the previously more lenient provisions of the Animal Protection Act. [FULL STORY]
