OH~YEAH

Weblog activity finally comes to the end

Hurray~>*<~

Self-reflection

This weblog activity does help a lot in pushing me to write my Research Paper. Without weblog, I think I will probably start everything three weeks before the rehearsal. Without weblog, I will not be able to get those useful suggestions given by my peers and of course, I will not know how their RPs are going on. It is nice to see my peers’ encouraging comments since preparing a RP is really a long and suffering period. I think my weblog performance is okay since I have tried all my best to catch up the schedule on time and then visit my peers’ weblogs to see whether I have some opinions for them. Among the five activities, I think I like activity 2 (First-hand data collection) the most. In that activity, I have posted my thinking of designing a questionnaire so as to collect my first-hand data. At first, I am very confused about what kind of questions I should include in the questionnaire, but then I still post a set of questions which I think may be helpful. At that time, I am very appreciated to have my peers remind me to ask something about animal euthanasia since this is the focus of my paper. Thanks to my peers to help in improving my RP.

It seems that I have never mentioned my motive in writing about “animal euthanasia”. Actually, the reason is that I am sure everyone must have read some news or articles about animals being mistreated. Because of human beings’ thoughtlessness, animals always become the victims. I personally feel pity for stray animals because they have no one to take care of while they still need to find ways to survive. Furthermore, stray animals have to tolerate of hunger, bad weathers and so on. Therefore, I really hate people who think it is not necessary to treat a stray animal as a life. I remembered that during this winter vacation, once I had visited a public animal shelter in Macau. When I was looking at the stray dogs there, I could see such a facial expressions that were helpless and confused. Somehow I felt extremely guilty because I wanted to help all of them, but the truth was that I did not have the ability to do so. Later on, I heard a girl next to me talking to a friendly stray dog, “don’t worry, your new owner will come and take care of you soon”. To be honest, my tears nearly came out at that moment. The cruel fact was that staring from the moment when the stray animals were caught, they would be given euthanasia after three days. In other words, the possibility for a stray dog to get a new owner is nearly zero. I think it is not fair for stray animals to be treated in this inhumane way. Young and healthy stray animals should not be given euthanasia. As a consequence, I have done a research to see if there is any other possible and more humane policy to treat stray animals. However, so far I am still worrying that my audience will not be convinced because euthanasia is absolutely the fastest way to reduce the huge number of stray animals in the society. I know that it is normal for people to pay particular attention on efficiency while some ethical problems will then be ignored.

RP argumentation

The green part below is the problems I found in the euthanasia policy; the purple part is another policy that I think is more humane to stray dogs and is potential enough to replace euthanasia

Hope my peers can spend some time to read these so long paragraphs and I am welcome to any opinions and suggestions~^*^~


There are several ethical defects in the euthanasia policy when the government is trying to control the number of stray dogs existing in the society. The first problem is that the government should not euthanize stray animals which are still young and healthy. Previously、Regan states that euthanasia is allowable only under the conditions that the animal is either too old or has suffered from an incurable disease. At this moment、euthanasia will be a method to end these animals』 suffrage by giving them a peaceful death. On the contrary、it is quite sure that not all stray dogs in this present time are old or dangerously ill. In this way、the government’s permission to euthanize healthy stray dogs so as to decrease the number of stray animals in the society is contradictable to Regan’s principle because the operation of euthanasia has already been applied for the wrong purpose. It will be better for the government to set up a professional official department that is to monitor whether the animal is old and ill enough to accept animal euthanasia.

Another doubtful question is that 「will the operation of euthanasia really be painless?」 (Shi 8). In the year of 2004、Professor Shi Fen-ru had once read a news report in which the truest and darkest side in an official animal shelter was totally revealed to the public. The veterinarian roughly and violently dragged a young healthy stray dog to the room where it would soon be euthanized. The dog was so scared that it shivered and barked helplessly. Disregarding the dog’s extreme fear、the veterinarian directly punctured the dog through its chest、so finally the dog died of extreme pain and fear、which again、offended the original purpose of animal euthanasia、which was to die peacefully and painlessly. This case also exposed clearly the scandal of human beings』 abusing the authority to kill innocent animals in such a cruel and merciless ways. Moreover、the expense to euthanize an animal is actually quite expensive for it costs about NT 4,881 while ligation only needs about NT 2,484 (Deng). Observed from this point、when compared to animal euthanasia、ligation will obviously be more practical and conformable to economical benefits. Ligation is more humane as well、for at least the stray animals are now having the opportunity to live their lives.

Of course euthanasia is not the only and the best way to solve the social problem of stray dogs in Taiwan. There can be an efficient system that has the potential to replace the practice of euthanasia on healthy and young stray dogs but also has the effect to control the number of stray dogs in the society. This system involves 「promotion of animal ligation」、「promotion of the implantation of electronic chips」、「establishment of animal protection laws」 and 「general education」. Three years ago、an American author、Joshua Frank、addressed that spay (removal of a female animal’s ovaries) and neuter (castrate the animal) programs were generally found to be the most effective policy options for reducing euthanasia. In order to prove his argument、a research was done and the result concluded that:
By encouraging the spay/neuter programs、a reduction of 46.8% in the percentage of dog owners who do not spay/neuter their animal results in a region with dynamics similar to the New York State Capital Region being able to bring the number of dogs euthanized down to zero. In other words、if about half of the people who do not spay/neuter their animal could be convinced to change their behavior、such a region could become 「no-kill」 for the dog population. (Frank 114)
Furthermore、in that survey、27% of pet owners who do not spay/neuter their animal say that they are willing to do so only if the spay/neuter program is at a low price of about US$100 (Frank 115). This evidence shows that the spay/neuter program is workable and is really full of potential to replace the policy of animal euthanasia. Meanwhile in Taiwan、it is good for the Taipei County Government to sponsor a ligation allowance of NT$ 600 for each male dog or cat and NT$1200 for each female dog or cat. Because of this extra bonus、pet owners may feel attractive to apply ligation to their pets. If the stray animals can no longer produce offspring、then the total number of stray animals in Taiwan will definitely decrease in the future. Ligation is far more humane than euthanasia. Even though the animal is not able to produce offspring anymore、at least it is given a chance to live、but not to be dead in the next minute. Moreover、liagtion has many advantages. It can prevent animals from having sexual diseases and they will be more docile and easily controlled for they will never have sexual desire anymore.

Promotion of the implantation of electronic chips under the animals』 skin is also very useful in controlling the number of stray animals in the society. The electronic chip functions as the animal’s identity card for its whole life so that although there are dogs abandoned by their owners purposely or there are dogs accidentally wander away from their owners; people can still trace the dogs』 identity and the information to contact their owners. Consequently、there will be less abandoned dogs which then become stray dogs surviving in the society all by themselves. In order to advocate the welfare that animals deserve、it is necessary for the government to set up legislative laws to protect animal rights. These laws should contain the spirit to remind people that we have to respect to all kinds of species living in this world. Human beings have to admire and be grateful to the contributions that animals have been giving to human living. Because of this、humans have the moral duty to protect and ensure that animals can live in a healthy and suitable environment (Singer 46). What is more、the government should make efforts in promoting the adoption program so that every stray dog can have an opportunity to find a new home and a new owner. General education to the resident is significant as well. Residents who already own a pet should keep in mind that the animal is a precious life and they should always be responsible to their pets. Residents must absolutely take serious consideration and think twice before they decide to own a pet. It is extremely wrong for people to buy and raise pets discretionarily and finally abandon the animals without having any sense of guilt and shame.

Works Cited & Bibliography List

Cai, Yu-ren. 蔡裕仁. “Liu-lang dong-wu ren-dao chu-li gai-kuang” <流浪動物人道處理概況> [The Humane Management on Stray Animals]. Animal Protection Information System (2005) 30 December 2006 <http://animal.coa.gov.tw/resources/article_00.html>.

Deng, Zhong-hua. 鄧仲華. “Liu-lang dong-wu shou-rong ji zheng-ce jian-tao” <流浪動物收容及政策檢討> [A Report and Review on Animal Shelters in Taiwan]. Life Conservationist Association 30 December 2006<http://www.lca.org.tw/report/c12/c12-9.htm#top>.

Fei, Chang-yong. 費昌勇. “Liu-lang dong-wu de she-hui wen-ti” <流浪動物的社會問題> [The Social Problem of Stray Animals]. The Origin of Stray Animal Problems 15 March 2007 <http://eeweb.gcc.ntu.edu.tw/eeweb_new/e/e005.htm>.

Frank, Joshua. “An Interactive Model of Human and Companion Animal Dynamics: The Ecology and Economics of Dog Overpopulation and the Human Costs of Addressing the Problem.” Human Ecology. Vol. 32, No.1, Feb 2004. 114-5.

Regan, Tom. “Euthanasia and Animals.” The Case for Animal Rights. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1985. 109-13.
Shi, Fen-ru. 施芬如. “Mian-dui dong-wu an-le-si de zhen-xiang yu dao-de” <面對動物安樂死的真相與道德> [Facing the Reality and Morality of Animal Euthanasia]. Animal Protection Information System (2005) 30 December 2006<http://animal.coa.gov.tw/resources/article_00.html>.

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The above is my tentative work cited list so far

... and ...

I know that it is not appropriate to have 4 online sources among the six ...

but I'll try to find some useful materials from books, magazines or journals in the following days

just wait and see la

these two weeks are really busy @__@... so many assignments' waiting for me

am nearly crazy >__<"

Responses to Hannah's RP Plan

Responses to Hannah's RP Introduction:

I think the introduction part is pretty gd~The direction is clear~It's gd to have a statistical data that shows the potential risk of IAD. But in the end of the introduction, it's better to show out reasons of how IAD can affect people physically and mentally so that your position can become more persuasive.

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Responses to Hannah's First Hand Data Plan:

A questionnaire will be useful, but I think you have to be careful when you design the questions in the questionnaire since your focus is on how IAD affects people "physically and mentally".
Hope my opinion cau help you in some ways. Add oil la~^^

First Hand Data Collection Plan

For my first-hand data collection, I will design a questionnaire for about 50 FJU students (both English majors and also non-English majors) to fill in. Questions are mainly as the following:

1. 你所居住的區域是否有流浪狗出沒?
2. 你有沒有因流浪狗的出沒而感到安全受威脅?
3. 請問如果在街道上有流浪狗出現的話，你會怎樣做？
4. 你是否知道一些會處理流浪狗的民間機構？
5. 你認為政府可以如何改善台北因棄養狗隻而導致流浪狗出現的情況？
6. 你認為政府是否需要加強流浪狗的宣傳活動？
7. 你認為流浪狗問題日趨嚴重的情況如何？
8. 請問你有甚麼建議去改善流浪狗的情況呢?

So far, these are the questions that I think can be added in the questionnaire. Of course there will be two versions (English version for English majors and Chinese version for non-English majors).
I’ll be very appreciated if any of you can give me some suggestions for the questions above~~~^__^

RP Introduction (Revised)

Practice of Euthanasia on Stray Animals

In the past, death was always the sensitive and taboo issue that people would seldom directly confront with. But during these recent decades, as the medical technology has become more advanced and progressive, humans now have the ability and power to not only prolong lives , but also to end lives such as through abortion and euthanasia. This research paper will mainly focus on the inhumanity of humans’ practicing euthanasia on stray animals. The problem of increasing stray animals in the societies of different nations has been remained unsolved for many years. A Statistical data from The Social Problem of Stray Animals mentions that every year in the States, approximately 6.5 millions stray animals will be given the operation of euthanasia (Fei 1). This issue can be a very serious one for possibly leading to innocent citizen’s being suddenly attacked by stray animals and the spread of an epidemic disease, such as rabies, caused by these stray animals. Eventually, the safety and hygienic problems will be raised. On the other hand, according to A Report and Review on Animal Shelters in Taiwan, the tragedy is that every year in Taiwan, take Taipei City as an example, several thousands of stray animals will be caught and then moved to those governmental animal shelters or private animal organizations. Up to 55% of these homeless animals will finally be given the operation of euthanasia (Deng). This policy may seem to be the most effective way to decrease the total number of stray animals in the society in the shortest time. However, it is definitely wrong for human beings to end the lives of stray animals via euthanasia only for the sake of humans’ advantage because the fee for each euthanasia operation is expensive and also it seriously offends the origin purpose of animal euthanasia, which is to die peacefully and painlessly. Therefore, the practice of animal euthanasia should be stopped so that more and more innocent stray animals can have a chance to survive.

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Works Cited

Deng, Zhong-hua. “A Report and Review on Animal Shelters in Taiwan.” Life Conservationist Association 30 December 2006<http://www.lca.org.tw/report/c12/c12-9.htm#top>.

Fei, Chang-yong. “The Social Problem of Stray Animals.” The Origin of Stray Animal Problems 15 March 2007 <http://eeweb.gcc.ntu.edu.tw/eeweb_new/e/e005.htm>.