January

Happy New Year to everyone!! We hope all your New Year’s wishes come true!
We only have a couple of New Year’s wishes and those are for all our furries to
find loving homes and for Animals Taiwan to find the perfect land to relocate our
centre to.
The beginning of the year is usually quite for us with adoptions and even
sometimes with rescues. This year we’ve started with quite a few rescues and
also not bad on adoptions. People are usually preparing to go on holiday for the
up and coming Chinese New Year and so put thoughts of adoption to after the
celebrations.
We have also started off the year with some great events independently
organized by our volunteers and supporters. We are always grateful for our
supporters and volunteers taking the initiative to find ways to help us raise
money. We are diligently saving up our pennies for the impending move at the
end of the year.
One of our supporters and regular volunteers was
approached by a lady who feeds and helps the cats
in her local area about two little kittens she had
recently rescued. The lady had caught the cats as
they were extremely malnourished and the mother
was too small and inexperienced to take good care
of them. The feeding lady had no where to put
them and so kept them in two storage boxes outside her store. The kittens were so dirty,
scared and confused that our volunteer's heart broke and she just couldn't walk away.
Our volunteer took the kittens to the vet for a check up and they were both suffering from
fleas and internal parasites. They also were suffering from slight fevers. They were given
medication and recovered very well.
Our volunteer fostered them until they were ready for adoption. Now that they have both had
their vaccinations they are at our centre waiting patiently for their humans to come and adopt
them. Our volunteer named them Kit and Kat. They are brother and sister and are about 2-3
months old.
They are now learning to trust people more and are becoming friendly loving kittens. We
hope they will find loving homes soon.
We received an urgent email from a visitor to Taiwan about two dogs kept in terrible
conditions and very neglected in Taoyuan. The person who contacted us had seen these two
dogs kept in tiny cages and both were in a very bad way, with matted fur and no food nor
water. He spoke to the owner and the owner gave him the story that he had been made
unemployed and could no longer care for the dogs. This, however, is absolutely no excuse
for the horrendous conditions the dogs were kept in. The dogs had obviously been kept this
way for many years and having no money is not an excuse for this evil and incomprehensible
treatment. The dogs had barely enough room to move around and the cages were battered
and rusted with their own excrement still in the cage not
cleaned for days.
Having no job does not justify this cruelty and neglect. It does
not take money to clean nor walk a dog. If he had such
difficulties he could have contacted someone for help, not just
leave them in these cages to slowly die from starvation.
The gentleman who contacted us told us that the man was
willing to give up one of the dogs, but we insisted that he give
up both of them. The owner agreed and the rescuer was able to
bring them immediately to Taipei. Once the dogs arrived to at
our rescue center, we could see the full effect of the neglect
with their matted disgusting fur. They were absolutely starving
and dehydrated too. We have no idea how long they had gone
without food or water.
We took them to be groomed so at least they were clean and
no longer had the pain of the matted fur pulling on their skin.
They were both sent to our vet for blood tests and general
check up. Rhea, which we have named the female, was in the
clear and was in a slightly better condition than the male, Ra.
Poor little Ra the male who is apparently the female’s son is
only 2 years old and was severely malnourished and
dehydrated and his blood test came back positive for
heartworm. We believe that the son had been kept in the cage
his entire life with little or no food and absolutely no socialization or love.
We believe both dogs are Shih Tzu mixes with the mother being nearer to the breed than the
son.
Both were very shell shocked when they arrived at our centre, but soon learned that they
were now in a safe place where they would receive good nutritious food and love and care.
Both are coming out of their shells and enjoying attention and walks.
We know that they will both find loving homes soon and we are so happy that they can now
start their new lives with no more worries of starvation or cruelty.
We are disgusted to have seen such abuse and cruelty, but grateful that a passerby took the
time to stop and do something about this atrocity. Our furry friends cannot speak for
themselves and need us to speak for them and help them when they are in danger.
We were contacted by a previous adopter about a kitten that her son had rescued and brought
home. Her son admired the work that we do and when he saw the little kitten, he decided he
couldn’t just walk away. Being a responsible pet owner his mom took the kitten to the vet for
a check up and got her de-wormed and started her first vaccinations. She advertised on
Facebook for a responsible home but didn’t receive any replies. She decided to contact us for
help. We were able to find another foster home for the kitten where she will be socialized
and when she’s ready she’ll receive her second vaccination and get spayed. Our foster daddy
has named her Cassius. She is a very rambunctious little lady who loves to play and run
around. She is about 3-4 months old.
We are very pleased that such a young gentleman saw a
situation and decided to act on it and not just walk on by
and let the little kitten fend for herself on the harsh streets.
The younger generation are our future and we need to
continue to educate them on not only responsible pet
ownership but compassion towards all animals.
On January 19th, one of our long-time volunteers found a white
Pomeranian in the Mucha District, Taipei running in and out of
traffic. She knew she couldn't just leave her there and so quickly
scooped her up and asked nearby stores and people if they knew
who the owner was. No one had seen her before and so our
volunteer took her home. Because this dog has no microchip,
there is no way to locate the owner if the dog was indeed lost
and not dumped. We waited for 7 days and posted on the web,
but no one came forward to claim her. We have decided to
named her Alaska 阿拉斯加.
At the time of rescue, Alaska was wearing two layers of clothing. The clothes were so dirty
that it seemed as if she had been wearing them for a very long time, which caused chafing on
her skin and caused the hair on her back to fall out. She was also wearing a small chain
around her neck which our volunteer had to use pliers to cut off.
Alaska is a girl, about 8 years old, very sweet and affectionate and loves to be with people
and loves to be held. She is now spayed, microchipped and vaccinated. During her spaying
procedure, the vet discovered a tumour on her ovaries, which has now been removed. So far
she doesn’t need to be on any medication and we just need to observe her and give her a
healthy diet to recover. Now she is out of those dirty clothes, the fur on her back has already
started to grow back. We are sure within time all her fur will grow back and she'll look like
the fluffy Pomeranian she's supposed to. Alaska is now waiting patiently for the right person
to bring her into their lives and love her forever as she has a lot of love to give.
We were notified of an emergency situation where a dog was in a terrible condition, with
severe skin problems and also extremely malnourished. It had also started to rock its head
back and forth. We are currently extremely understaffed and full at the rescue center, but we
just couldn't turn this dog away. The people who contacted us were extremely understanding
and helpful. They themselves were able to catch the dog and transport it to our vet where it
was diagnosed with Ehrlichiosis, malnourishment, scabies, dislocated back leg, anaemia,
body sores and poor liver and kidney functions.
Luckily, he doesn't have heartworm or any other
fatal contagious diseases. Due to the fact that he
was rescued late in the afternoon the rescuers
decided to put him in a 24 vet overnight for
observation which they kindly paid for.
He is now at our rescue center and will continue
daily treatment for his Ehrlichiosis and scabies. We
give him three meals a day to help him put on
weight and also help fight his diseases. He has a
long road ahead of him, but with good nourishment,
some love and care, we believe he will make a full
recovery. He is a sweet dog but quite large and so we have decided to name him Jumbo.
This month we were also able to help two furry friends be reunited with their loving owners.
Around New Year we often receive calls about lost pets or found pets due to the fireworks.
We try every year to warn owners to keep their pets leashed at all times and try to avoid
going out during the firework period of the day. On January 1st we received just one such call
from a volunteer who noticed a dog looking lost at an MRT station. The dog had a sign
attached to his collar. This volunteer was unable to read Chinese and so took a photo of the
sign and dog and sent it to us. The sign read, “This dog is lost. Looking for owner” and was
dated January 1st 2015. So instead of
taking the dog to the vet to scan for a
microchip, the previous person had just
decided to write a note and stick it to the
dog, leaving the dog for someone else to
help. Our volunteer was very helpful and
helped us take the dog in a taxi to our vet to scan for a microchip. Thankfully, the owner was
a responsible owner and had gotten her dog microchipped. We immediately called the owner
who was extremely pleased to have had her dog found. The owner came and picked up her
dog and informed us his name is Polar. Polar was very happy to see his owner.
We also received a message on our fb page around this time of a lady who had found a husky
wandering the streets with a limp. She had taken the dog to a vet and the dog had a chip but
the vet said no one was answering the phone and refused to give the phone number or chip
number to the rescuer and just told her to go to the government shelter. The rescuer wasn’t
sure about taking the dog to the government shelter and so contacted us instead. We asked
the rescuer to please take the dog to another vet for a scan and give us the chip number. She
did this and we were able to ask our vet to contact the owner who immediately answered the
phone. The husky was a rescue and the owner was absolutely beside herself with worry
about her as she had a bad leg and she was worried that she would yet again be sent to a
government shelter (which was were the adopter had adopted her from). The rescuer and
owner were put in touch with each other and finally the Husky found his way home.
Chipping your dog or cat will greatly increase the chance of getting your animal back if he or
she goes missing for whatever reason. Also it is extremely important that you update your
information regularly. We also advise rescuers to not just stop at one vet, get the dog scanned
a few times and insist that they call the owner several times. Chips can also be traced back to
the vet where they were implanted so if the chip info isn’t up to date your vet can contact the
vet of the dog to find the owner.
Adoptions are usually low at the beginning of the year as people are either going on holiday
or just returning from holiday. Also the Chinese New Year is coming up and people have
family commitments and so leave adoption to after the Chinese New Year when they are
back to their normal routine. However, we still have a few happy tails to share with
everyone.
Both Bruce and Julie started their new lives in the US this month thanks to Mary Choi. We
are always so grateful to Mary for the help she gives us finding loving responsible homes in
the US. We know that not every dog can be sent abroad and that we have to find loving
homes here in Taiwan. But when it comes to black dogs in Taiwan, it is extremely difficult
to find those loving homes. We are so happy to see Bruce and Julie loving their new lives
and to know that they will taken care of and given the best possible life.
This month also Giant our huge beautiful cat who was rescued
last month found his loving home. A couple came to visit him
and immediately fell in love. We are so happy that Giant was
adopted so quickly and has been given a new lease on life and
will never have to worry about living on the streets searching for
food and a safe place to rest his head.
We’re also so please to report that Rhea, one of our rescues this month,
has also found a loving home. The adopters had previously taken Fanta
for a tryout, but due to the fact that the adopter has small children and
Fanta wasn’t used to small children nor was she house trained the
adopter decided to return her. The adopter was really upset at having to
return Fanta as she said she is a wonderful little dog but just not right
for their family. We assured her that we would find Fanta the right
home and that she did the right thing and this is
why we always have a tryout period to find the
right fit. Our adopter didn’t want to give up and
decided to give Rhea a try. At first Rhea was a
bit protective over her new owners and wasn’t
too keen on the children. However, the adopters
could see that she is extremely smart and willing
to learn and so they put in the effort to train her.
She is now a permanent part of the family and absolutely loves the children. We always say
if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again!
This month we’ve had a few ups and downs.
Tango our lovely little wheelchair puppy went in for an operation on one of her hind legs to
see if it would improve her mobility. Her leg has now been set in a better position but due to
the fact that Tango has never used her back legs, she is still finding it hard to use them. Her
other leg couldn’t be operated on as the
success rate was well below 30%. Tango is
now back at our centre and receiving daily
physiotherapy to try to improve her
mobility.
Now for the downs this month!
Unfortunately we saw the passing of two of our beloved furry friends this month. Macaroon
and Otis passed over the rainbow. Both had been fighting various diseases and unfortunately
just weren’t strong enough anymore to overcome them. Both will be greatly missed at our
centre by both staff and volunteers alike. We are grateful for the years we did get to spend
with these two amazing furries and we hope now they are running free in greener pastures.
Also this month we have had an escape. Bonita our three legged brindle beauty took off
when one of our volunteers was walking her. She is still around the centre area and has been
spotted daily. We have been putting food out for her nightly and have set up a humane trap
for her, but up until now we have not been able to catch her. We will not give up our efforts
and will continue to do our best to return her to the centre.
This month we have had many events and what is really great is that they were all
independently arranged by our volunteers and supporters.
We had two designer sales this month. One was organized by a long term volunteer and was
held at a supporters bar and restaurant DV8. It was a great success and many people came to
buy the amazing designer clothes that were generously donated to us. We were able to raise
over NT$40,000 – We’d like to say a big thank you to Kim Philips for organizing everything
and to DV8 for holding the event and continuing to support us.
The second designer sale was held by a group of amazing models who contacted us asking if
they could hold an event for us. Again the sale was a great success and was supported by not
only the models but also some TV personalities. They were able to raise over NT$50,000 for
us and also encouraged people to adopt and not shop when it comes to wanting a furry friend
in their lives.
We’d like to say a huge thank you to all the people involved
張嘉玲、Lauren 江柔璇(Catwalk)、Jessica 管其慧(Catwalk)、Joanna 管其宜、Jennifer
涂佳宜(Catwalk)、Demi 羅依璇(Catwalk)、歐怡廷(Catwalk)、李京恬(Catwalk)、張巧
欣(Catwalk)、Bonnie 王暐婷(Blogger)、KIKI 宋冠嫺(濃湯妹)、劉方慈(Anchor)、李瀅
瀅(Anchor)、陳泓彣 桌遊聯盟主題休閒館 Board Game League
This month Rainbow from Grandma Nitti’s a long time supporter of Animals Taiwan held an
ongoing event for the month were 5% of everyone’s bill would be donated to Animals
Taiwan. This not only brought in a great donation to us but also brought more awareness of
our organization and we really hope that more people will be contacting us for adoptions.
This month ICRT came to Animals Taiwan and interviewed our Chairperson. We are
extremely grateful to ICRT for giving us this opportunity to not only inform everyone about
our organization but also to spread out plight of looking for new land for relocation.
We’d like to thank Keith Menconi for coming over to our centre and implementing this
interview.
If you’d like to listen to the interview you can go to the ICRT’S website and find it in their
ICRT Taiwan Talk section under the title of “Animals Taiwan on caring for the island’s
strays”
http://www.icrt.com.tw/newsroom_podcasts.php?pageOneId=2&pageTwoId=11&poId=6&p
tId=24
To get the audio, click on the “subscribe" button. It will take you to another page - click on
the title of the show and this will let you download the audio.
You can also here it on the ICRT itunes page
https://itunes.apple.com/mz/podcast/taiwan-talk/id572456881
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 [email protected] 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.