By Anne Muller
This January, I was privileged to be invited by friends to
Taiwan. While there, I met the folks who were instrumental in getting
a comprehensive anticruelty statute passed in the country.
In our
next issue, Del Seligman, Esq. will be writing an in-depth article
about it, comparing it to U.S. anti-cruelty statutes. Sakya Chao-Fei
is the Buddhist nun who founded Life Conservationist Association
(LCA). In her brochure she wrote: "It is our policy to stop
any unnecessary cruel treatment to animals, whether those animals
are precious[endangered] or not." LCA involves itself with
wildlife individuals as well as the stray dogs of Taiwan Meet some
of the active members of LCA: Frankie (left), Tucker (center) and
Melissa (right). Tucker had just won the doggie lottery by getting
adopted from the street by LCA. He was wisely hanging out in front
of their office. Melissa will be in the US studying law soon and
may return to Taiwan for some legal action.
In a recent communication,
Melissa wrote: "Right now the government is working on the
actual implementation of the Animal Protection Law. Specifically,
they are working on procedures for hiring/training animal inspectors
and on the specifics of dog registration." To contact or contribute
to the Life Conservationist Association, write to: LCA, 3F, No.
9, Nan King E. Road, Sec. 5, Taipei, Taiwan or e-mail lcatwn@ms15.hinet.net
MEANWHILE, BACK ON THE HOME FRONT:
PETS ALIVE is the East Coast group that has been taking many
of the dogs from Taiwan. It is a no-kill shelter. Sara Whalen,
founder, cares for no less than 400 animals, including carriage
horses from New York City, pigs, and other farm animals, dogs from
Taiwan, debeaked ducks from poultry factories. Donations can be
mailed to: Pets Alive 363 Derby Road, Middletown, NY, 10940, (914)
386-9738 petsaliv@warwick.net .
Their website is: www.petsalive.com .
ANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND - This excellent legal aid organization
gave our lawyer, Jim Sieradzki of Ros & Sieradzki, Clifton,
NJ, a generous grant to help us with the Ringwood battle. We are
very grateful to them. Donations can be mailed to Animal Legal
Defense Fund, 127 Fourth St., Petaluma, CA 94952
ANIMAL DEFENSE LEAGUE - Energetic, organized, high school and
college students call attention to animal abuse, especially fur,
through street activism. They also helped us patrol posted property
against hunting this past fall. They also do a vegan outreach,
giving away vegan food on the street along with literature: Donations
can be mailed to: NYC Animal Defense League, PO Box 20878 New York,
NY 10009 Office: 718.274.4443 Events Hotline: 800.865.7415 Website: http://members.aol.com/adlnycli/home.htm ;
Email: nyc-adl@juno.com
