With increasingly frequent news reports about cruelty to animals, legislators decided to ask the COA, which is the Cabinet-level government agency in charge of animal protection in Taiwan, and the Environmental Protection Administration, which is responsible for capturing stray animals, to give briefings on the issue at an economic affairs committee meeting at the Legislative Yuan.

During the meeting, the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST) released a survey conducted over the past three years showing that 104 out of 122 animal shelters around the country had failed to meet the necessary qualifications of the Animal Protection Act.

Meanwhile, more than 90 percent of the temporary animal detention centers designated by the local government to keep stray animals that are caught have failed to meet the minimum requirements of the regulations, according to EAST.

The group showed video clips of dogs and cats being kept in the local government-operated detention centers near garbage fields, public cemeteries, and slaughterhouses. Some of the animals were fed rotten food and dirty water or were left to die.

Currently, environmental protection workers who also deal with garbage are responsible for catching Taiwan's stray dogs and cats.

The EAST said the government should set up a division dedicated to animal protection and dealing with the stray animal problem, which has become serious due to pet owners abandoning their pets when they find it troublesome or costly to raise them.

The video drew ire from legislators across the political spectrum.

In response, COA Vice Minister Wang Cheng-ten said that animals kept in animal shelters or places designated by the local governments that are not claimed or adopted in seven days are put to death in a humane way.

Kuomintang Legislator Hsu Chung-hsiung who convened the meeting questioned the COA's attitude over the issue, noting that the COA has earmarked only NT$370 million of its budget over the past 10 years and NT$10 million last year for handling stray animals.

Five legislators then proposed that the COA should hand in a report on how to improve shelter conditions for stray animals, including stringently punishing animal abusers and animal protection workers who neglect their duty, setting up a complaint hotline and devising a timetable for establishing an animal protection agency, or face budget boycott by the legislature.

(By Yang Su-min and Y.L. Kao)