The Strays of Tamsui
79
In Tamsui, ten years ago, one could not go far without encountering a stray dog. The campus of the university where I taught was full of them. On every walk through the town or by the river, I would meet up with many a stray. They had no collars or tags, and they didn't bother anybody. If you happened upon a dog in an alley, the dog would go out of its way to avoid an encounter. He might cross over to the other side of the street to give you a wide berth. These dogs were polite, discreet, and wary. They minded their own business, and they expected you to do the same.
When I complained to the locals that none of the dogs would let me pet them, they were scandalized. "Aya, do not touch the dogs. It is not safe."
But by the same token, the dogs did not seem to think it would be safe to touch me, either. So we always went our separate ways after each brief encounter.
Tamsui is a city built on the banks of the Tamsui River which flows into the straits of Formosa that separate the Island of Taiwan from the Mainland of China.
The campus of Tamsui Oxford University College was very well tended. During my first few weeks there, before I rented an apartment, I stayed on campus in a building called "The White House". Every morning, when I went out, no matter how early, there were people with wide brimmed hats manicuring the lawns and tending to the foliage. The president of the university took great pride in the appearance of the campus. When someone asked why there were so many strays on campus, we were told that the president himself had given orders that any strays on campus should be fed daily with scraps from the cafeteria.
This presented quite a contrast to me from the way strays are viewed in the U.S. In America, people are discouraged from feeding a dog, unless they plan to adopt it. In U.S. cities, strays are routinely rounded up, and those who aren't adopted after a short of period of time are euthenized. People who adopt dogs from the pound are told they should have them neutered, in order to avoid adding to the "excess dog population."
In Tamsui, stray dogs seemed to flourish, without necessarily belonging to anyone. They lived natural lives, producing young, and dying of natural causes. They had enough to eat, but I never saw an obese dog on the streets of Tamsui, and even though they were strays, none of them begged for food. In fact, every time I tried to give a dog some food, the dog declined.
Of all the strays I met in Tamsui, only one let me pet him. He was a cute little mixed breed with the head of a German Shepherd, but a much smaller body. I first met him when I was walking back to the White House from a restaurant that a group of us had taken to frequenting. A colleague from Canada and I were waiting to cross the busy intersection of a main thoroughfare. Traffic in Taiwan is hard to negotiate, especially if you are a pedestrian who believes that he has the right of way. Cars don't slow down for a person trying to cross the street, even when the traffic signals are in your favor. Suddenly we saw a dog dash into the street and make it through the cars that never even paused at the sight of him. We held our breaths. We were sure he would be run over. But no! He was waiting for us on the other side, as we made it across. Unlike most of the dogs in Tamsui, this one was friendly, and he encouraged us to pet him, and followed us all the way home, to the White House. We felt sad that we couldn't offer him anything. Neither of us could afford to adopt a local dog. We were just passing through, and we couldn't make a commitment. The next morning, if he was still there outside the wall, I was planning to give him some scraps, but he wasn't there.
After I moved into my own apartment off-campus, I sometimes prowled the streets of Tamsui taking photos of sights that I found interesting. When I showed the photos to my local friends, they would laugh, asking: "Why did you take a picture of that? That's not interesting. It's just a bunch of garbage cans."
"No," I would answer. "It's a picture of stray cats."
"Oh. Don't they have stray cats where you come from?"
"Well, yes. But these are Taiwanese stray cats," I would answer.
When foreign faculty (from the U.S. and Canada) mentioned the stray dogs, they felt regret that they couldn't do more to help them. But there was also this latent criticism of the local system that tolerated the population of strays, neither rounding them up nor taking complete responsibility for them.
My own feelings were ambivalent. I was concerned that these dogs weren't vaccinated, and yet they were the best behaved strays that I had ever seen. They maintained a healthy distance from strangers, and they seemed amazingly self-reliant. Most did not even look as if they wanted a master.
All except for that little guy who had crossed the street with us that day. I saw him again on one of my walks through the city, and I happened to have an ice cream cone at the time. I stopped to pet him, and he was very happy to see me, but when I offered him a bite of my cone, he wasn't interested.
Many months passed before I saw him again. I was invited to a party given by a high ranking professor in our department. He and his wife had bought a new house, which they had renovated with hardwood floors and all the latest trimmings. They had their entire lives mapped out, and there was a room in the house to represent every step of the way. They showed us the room they planned to have his mother live in when she could no longer live on her own.They showed us another room, which would be the nursery, once they had kids. "And we have already got one dependent living with us," they said cheerfully. "Want to see?" We nodded. They opened a door, and in trotted our friend, which I and my colleague from Canada immediately recognized. It was the dog who had guided us safely across the intersection. He had finally found a home!
I think that a country that tolerates strays is not necessarily a bad place for dogs. If the strays of Tamsui had been in the U.S. instead, how many would have been allowed to live full, complete lives? All would have been rounded up. Those not adopted would have perished. Those who were adopted would have been mutilated and de-sexed, in the name of population control.
Sometimes the kindest thing we can do for others is to leave them alone. It's not necessary to fix every problem we see. Trying to fix the lives of others without understanding their point of view can cause them irreperable damage. We can't be responsible for every one we meet. Sometimes, the right thing to do is to live and let live.
(c) 2008 Aya Katz
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Joyride, I, too, used to think what a shame it was that there are all these homeless animals. However, seeing how it worked in Taiwain, that stray dogs were allowed to live complete lives, (including reproducing and caring for their young), even though nobody owned them, I came to see the limitations of the Western approach to strays.
It was a very happy thing that the particular dog who befriended us found a good home, but it was also happy for all the dogs who had not found a home, that they got to live out their lives in freedom and with dignity.
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>seeing how it worked in Taiwain, that stray dogs were allowed to live complete lives,This unfortunately is wrong. Taiwan is not a stray dog friendly, not even a pet friendly country. Take a look at this stray puppy...was burned up alive by 3 junior high schoolers. http://www.vogue.com.tw/club/discuss_det.aspx?cata the puppy later died while the kids were never punished. Why? Because to the gov., it's "just" a dog.Please also spent some time look through this gallery: http://www.pbase.com/boogier . Photos posted there were only taken by photographer himself. Can you imaging how many other suffering souls are out there in this little island? Most strays in Taiwan can only live for up to 2 years. .. not a full life. Please also take a look at this post: http://www.savedogs.org/forum/article_view.html?f_ . The dogs in photos were captured by the gov. pound. Do you see what the gov is doing to them on their last days (these strays were destroyed after a few days as no one were there to claim them. ) The feces were all over the place... and they were fed with chills and vegetables... not to mention illegal restaurants all over the place that slay dogs for meat. Most strays in Taiwan have to seek for food and water from garbage dumps, eating sands and stones to alleviate their hunger, been kicked away from stores to stores, house to house...etc. Most of them face insurmountable danger everyday. Dangers such as animal abuse by human (using knife, rubber bands, ropes, boiling water/oil, fire, dragging by motorcycle, beating, poisoning and chemical burns..etc.), car accidents, bear traps, dog meat restaurants, puppy mills and of course, captured and euthanized by government-owned animal shelters. What I just mentioned is just a tip of the iceberg... I am sorry that I left such a long message... it's just I saw sad things to these poor animals everyday... Lastly, just take a look at how many puppies were put to sleep in yunlin county: http://s536.photobucket.com/albums/ff322/yunlinstr They were born and captured by the pound.. only 5-10% got the get out of jail card...they lived for a few months and have to be put to sleep. Their mom, too. Wouldn't you wish those strays were never born?...
Taiwanese, thanks for you comment and for sharing this information.
When I was in Taiwan, I didn't see the cruel treatment myself, but I did see stray dogs who knew how to take care of themselves, and were very cautious of humans. I was not under the impression that all Taiwanese were kind to dogs, and this was not the point of my hub. The point was, that despite the less than paternalistic treatment of dogs, many managed to live good and natural lives. It is natural for a dog to be sometimes hungry and to hunt for food. It is not natural for all dogs to be obese and grain fed, as they are predominantly in the U.S. It is natural for dogs to have puppies and for not all the puppies from each litter to survive to adulthood. It is not natural for a dog to be neutered.
You mentioned puppies put to death and asked: "Wouldn't you wish those strays were never born?" You can say the same things about people who end up having bad and even tragic things happen to them. Wouldn't it be better if all people who were ever murdered had never been born? I think the people themselves would give a different answer. In life, we hope. We all die in the end. It's what happens between birth and death that matters. Nobody wants to die prematurely or under horrible circumstances, but ask most, and they will not tell you they would rather never have been born.
It used be commonplace for people to take the pick of the litter and drown the rest. While we may all frown on this practice, would we really like to live in a world where the only dogs that exist are of two kinds:
(1) pets who have been neutered
and
(2) breeders owned by government sanctioned puppy mills whose sole function in life is to reproduce?
Once upon a time, human lived their lives in the wild, too. Why do people now choose to live with the benefits of a city than living in the wild nowadays? Would you rather live in the wild with little food supply or you would rather have the opportunity to live comfortably at home?
http://www.savedogs.org/forum/article_view.html?f_ this link shows a group of strays living in the mountain, end up loosing their legs. Do you think they would rather live this kind of life or be an altered pet where they have food and shelther and don't have to worry about danger or hunger.
As long as people still live on this world, there is animal cruelty, then there is suffering for those poor animals who can't speak for themselves. What you have seen in Taiwan is just a few dogs, you don't know how all of them ended up anyway. If no one take them in, they are probably be dead within a year, no matter how curious they are. Most of them end up dead of car accidents or torture - even been put down is a torture. This is how government pounds put dogs to dead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuGSrnyt0Q0 Your article gives people the impression that stray dogs in Taiwan can survive but they don't. Maybe a good way to phrase my question was wouldn't you rather they never "exist"? Spay and neuter is the only humane way to lower down the overpopulation. Or you think killing and torture is more humane? Or you think cruelty should be done to more strays? (no alteration=more strays)
Taiwanese, thanks for your comment. Why don't we spay and neuter humans first! Then there will not be a problem for dogs.
The truth is that no one wants to be neutered at the whim of someone else. We don't do it to other humans against their will, because such a solution to the human overpopulation problem would be inhumane. How can you believe it is humane to do this to dogs?
Dogs can't speak for themselves. True enough. You are not speaking for them. When a delegation of dogs shows up and asks to be neutered, then I may be convinced that this is what some dogs want. Not necessarily all dogs, though.
Your solution is a totalitarian decision to allow only certain privileged institutions to breed dogs. Can you imagine what this will eventually do to the genetic diversity of the canine population?
Many of the so-called animal rights activists are really lobbying for the destruction of entire breeds and species in the name of reducing suffering.
The only way to stamp out suffering is to stamp out life!
Taiwanese, I unintentionally ignored your question to me: "Would you rather live in the wild with little food supply or you would rather have the opportunity to live comfortably at home?"
It is a good question. My answer is: "I would rather have a choice than to have others make that decision for me." I don't live in a city, nor within the confines of any municipality. I have woods behind my house, where wild rabbits and deer run. I have a pasture. I have an orchard that gives fruit. I shop at the Wal-Mart, but I also live off my own land. If tomorrow there is no Wal-Mart, I and my family will still survive, including the stray dogs that we adopted.
The strays in Taiwan seem to be extremely well behaved.
Here in India they are very assertive. They think they own the cities where they live, especially at night.
Many citizens hesitate to venture out at night for fear of the strays. I myself have experienced this in Delhi which has perhaps as many strays as there are Delhities. We are returning home after visiting the Taj in Agra and it was near midnight. The city was aspleep. The bus dropped us near our home and there was just a short walk. We had with us a couple of small children and we were walking home. Suddenly the strays surrounded us menacingly, several of them, huge shaggy beasts with glistening teeth. We were terrified. Luckly, our shouts of fear aroused a watchman of a society who came to our aid with his lathi (bamboo stick). If he hadn't turned up at the right moment, I wonder what would have happened to us on that night.
I remember another incident of my childhood days. A cow had given birth on the streets, but even before the calf had emerged properly, it had been bitten to death by a gang of strays.
In Ahmedabad where I live now, we have similar stray problem. When it turns dark, the strays take over the roads and chase any two-wheeler that passes them. This has often lead to accidents in which people have been injured.
In our society, a bitch has taken residence and has given birth to a litter of puppies. They look cute when they are young, but as they grow bigger, they become aggressive and bite children, who can then die of rabies.
More pitiably, the puppies are so dumb that they get easily get run over by the cars in the society when they are shunted for parking. And it can be traumatic for small children to witness such violent death right in their societies.
So there is no wisdom in feeding strays or encouraging them. The city is not the place for animals. It is for human beings, primarily.
True city people can get nostalgic about animals. They should visit wilderness areas or zoos to get over their nostalgia.
It is neither kindness nor pragmatism to encourage stray animals, whether they be dogs, cats, cows, pigs or any other domestic animals.
Unfortunately Indian cities are overrun with all these.
Julaha, thank you for your thoughtful comment. You bring up a very important point: in order for us to respect stray dogs, they also have to respect us.
Some of the commentators from Taiwan wrote that I don't understand, and that the Taiwanese are really very cruel to these dogs, so it would be better for them never to have been born. I never saw anyone in Taiwan being cruel to a dog, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. In fact, from the way the dogs reacted to meeting a stranger, I gather that there is cruelty, that they witnessed it, and that because of this, they avoided humans. In fact, it almost seemed as if their mothers discouraged them from taking food from the hands of a human, because there was a history of poisoning.
All this I inferred from the behavior of the dogs. But this is precisely what made the stray dogs so well behaved, and created a balance between the right of humans to be safe and the right of the dogs to exist.
It sounds to me as if, from your own description, there is no such balance in India. Perhaps, because of Hinduism or other cultural issues, people are TOO kind to dogs, even vicious dogs, to the point that the dogs take advantage. This is going too far the other way.
What we need is a balance. In order to co-exist, each species should be made to respect the rights of the other.
I have a friend who is an animal expert. He tells me that neutering strays is hardly an effective strategy.
There are so many dogs to be neutered and there are so few resources, and if you don't neuter them all, the entire program fails, because non-neutered dogs quickly replace the neutered ones and soon begin to breed again.
The best way to control strays is proper garbage management. The dogs subsist on garbage. If the garbage is properly disposed, they won't have anything to eat and there would be no dogs either.
But Indian cities have a long way to go before they can manage their garbage properly.
Religious sentiments could have something to do with it too. People here are vegetarians, and the Jains, who are quite numerous in Ahmedabad, abhor any kind of violence.
Julaha, yes, I agree that neutering is not a solution. Proper garbage management is a good idea, to keep down rat populations as well.
Interesting post. Stray dogs are never a problem I think, they are more of a society that co-exists with us. I'm not saying that it should be encouraged or discouraged, just accept things are if the two societies cross each other's roads in an obtrusive way then measures may be taken to resolve the issue.
I did a similar article on my blog, do read it, you'll get insights into a particular city in India, Bangalore.
Prasoon Joshi, thanks for your comment and for providing a link to your article on the the dogs of Bangalore.
This Is soo sad! I wish i could help all these animals. Its so mean what people can do to animals! I am a animal lover! & i just really hurts me when i see all these animals on the streets. I will always keep the animals in my prayers. I also really hope that god helps them. I also hope that they find a loving home. & that no one else hurts animals!
Rose, thanks for your comment. Some of this is sad, but there is a part that isn't sad. It is happy when a stray dog finds a good home where he is loved and wanted. And it is also happy that dogs who have not found a home yet are still allowed to live freely. It's a terrible thing to live in a country where the only dogs who are allowed to live are those who find a home.
It sounds like Tamsui has a good way of dealing with their stray dogs. I enjoyed the story about the nice one finding a home.
Thanks, SweetiePie. I do think we could learn a lot from the way the stray population is handled in Tamsui. I was so happy to see that my dog friend found a good home, too.
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joyride 3 years ago
This problem, with unwanted animals, unfortunatelly seem to be a problem, all over the world, and that s a shame, that people have so little concideration, for the well being of the animals, all around the globe, and it deeply saddens me, that all these animals, have to suffer so much, in so many countries, it doesn t reflect good on us as humans, how we treat the animals, and neglect to see them, and recognize their needs, and their rights, kelly ann