《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Illegal pet breeder shut down

TAKEN INTO CUSTODY: Hundreds of ill-treated dogs and cats have been rescued from a residence that was breeding animals in cages and selling them on the Internet

By Sean Lin / Staff reporter

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Animal protection workers yesterday confiscated more than 200 cats and dogs, as well as large numbers of vaccines and antibiotics, found at an illegal pet vending and breeding facility in New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang District （新莊）.

The New Taipei City Animal Protection and Health Inspection Office said it launched an inspection in the early hours of yesterday after receiving a tip-off from nonprofit organization Not Only Environment （NOE） and found that the animals were kept in a space of about 70m2.

Animals taken into the custody of the agency included 215 dogs, including poodles, Maltese terriers, huskies, shiba inus, dachsunds, chihuahuas and bulldogs, as well as five American fold cats; all of which are popular pet breeds, the office said.

Office director Chen Yuan-chuan （陳淵泉） said all canines found were puppies of less than two months old, adding that many were in poor health.

Many animals were exhibiting symptoms of conjunctivitis and skin diseases and suffering from sacroiliac joints dysfunction, he said.

Chen said the site was a residential property where the animals had been put in stacked cages in a kitchen and a bathroom, each measuring just 16.5m2, adding that the site was infested with cockroaches.

It appeared that the animals had not been fed or given water for some time, he said.

After examining the animals, office personnel found that none of them were implanted with chips or registered, Chen said.

Furthermore, six red poodles and Maltese terriers had their vocal cords removed, he said.

The facility’s owner, Juan Ching-jung （阮錦榮）, said that he would give away the dogs to his neighbors, but later confessed that he was planning to breed and sell the dogs after inspectors discovered that all the animals were female, Chen said.

Inspectors also found 275 doses of vaccines for dogs and 12 doses of antibiotics in a refrigerator, Chen said.

Juan allegedly bought the vaccines and antibiotics from veterinarians in Sinjhuang and Taoyuan’s Chongli District （中壢） and administered them to the animals whenever they had a poor appetite or diarrhea.

The NOE said that Juan bought between 30 and 40 animals from suppliers, which led the office to suspect that other illegal animal breeding facilities were involved in the case.

After questioning him for more than one hour, Juan gave the names of four other potentially illegal breeders in Changhua, Taoyuan and Miaoli counties, Chen said.

Juan sold animals on the Internet for about NT$4,000 （US$127） each, for which he was fined NT$50,000 for violating the Animal Protection Act （動物保護法）, Chen said.

The office fined him a total of NT$130,000 for his infractions and ordered that his business be closed down.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES