May 13, 2007

Toastmasters Club C7 Speech

“Destiny of Stray Animals”

Rebecca Chou 2006/11/01
Sometimes I am wondering why a little kitten can grow up like this as my fatty cat. She was a stray cat before who was been dumped after her birth. My sister picked her up and because of her pregnancy, she gave it to me four years ago. After having a cat as pet, I found the biggest advantage is meeting handsome veterinarians when your pet is sick. However, the hardest part is also this because there is no medical insurance for pets, the cost will be double or triple. Meanwhile, no one likes the medicine and neither does your pet. Forcing them to take medicines is a mission impossible.

My cat is lucky because she has a sweet home. But from the recent news, the cat abuse case, we can imagine how awful an owner can be to a little animal. After knowing the destiny of stray animals, the worst is staying in the public shelters. Based on our Animal Protection Law, any animal is kept there for over seven days without adoption will go to heaven including your lost pet without chips! The truth is the road to heaven is suffering. The process of euthanasia is under table and far beyond of humanity. Under only 1% adoption rate of Taipei Public Shelter, the highest one in Taiwan, there will be more than 20 animals killed everyday.

Because of high labor cost and other expenses, stray animals there have no shelters at all but only a concentration camp such as Jewish people had during the Second World War. Although we cannot save them all, at least we have to know the real situation and need to keep in mind “the four No”.

1. No more stray animals.
This includes lost animals and dumped ones. For previous ones, we may need to inject chips inside of their bodies so that we could find them easily once they get lost. Since we are the owner and we have the responsibility to take care of them forever. Do not throw them away when they are old or sick. If you cannot keep them, there are many private shelters for them besides of leaving them alone on the streets.

2. No more mass destruction.
Based on statistics, killing a stray dog will cost NT$ 4800 which is almost two times of birth control. As mentioned before, over 7 days without adoption, stray animals will be killed according to the law but the problem is still on the street. The best solution is birth control instead of catch-and-kill.

3. No more superficial numbers.
Adoption of stray animals in Taiwan is less than 1% and all of them will die after seven days of cruel treatment. We may believe that some of them will find adopters; however, the truth is the adopters are the original owners. Those lost animals in public shelters will get back home easily because their owners will look for them. But their dirty and negative looking, they can hardly find adopters.

4. No more public shelters.
Sending stray animals to public shelters means sending them to hell. The private shelters will try to take care every animal until the last minute of their lives and they do not have to worry about anything there. If there is stray animal around your neighborhood, you have the choice to find a better place for them.

I know the stray animal problem cannot be solved within a short period but if we all have clear ideas of their possible destinies, we can save them from tortures and unfair treatment.

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