[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]
[LIFE IN JAPAN]
Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2009
THE ZEIT GIST
Stray observations on booming pet culture
There are more pets than children in Japan, but troubling attitudes about treatment of animals are also widespread
By IAN PRIESTLEY
CONTINUED FROM newsjt2
ARK has been involved in a number of cases against breeders. In 2007, the organization investigated a breeder in Saga Prefecture, who kept Shiba dogs in cages covered in feces, stacked on top of each other, with dead animals caged together with the living. ARK contacted the governor of Saga and the police, and collected a petition. Media coverage amped up the pressure until the local government finally prosecuted.
Pet owners also have important responsibilities to live up to, of course, and local governments are working to make them do so. It is getting harder to simply dump a pet at a control center, wave goodbye and not have to think about the consequences. Employees at some centers now try and persuade owners not to abandon their animals, and make them fully aware of what will happen if they do.
In particular, the city of Kumamoto has taken a hard line, in some cases requiring owners to watch the animal being killed as a condition of abandonment. This does seem to be having an effect. The number of animals killed at the Kumamoto control center was 78 in 2007, down from 946 a decade earlier.
Once accepted by control centers, however, animals face almost certain death due to people's lack of willingness to adopt. Around 98 percent of cats brought in are killed.
Cuteness is a major criterion for pet choice (hence the over-representation of puppies and kittens in pet shop windows), and on this front animals in shelters tend to score low — many are disabled, blind, old or bear clear evidence of the kind of life they have led. The cuteness factor, or loss of it over time, also has a lot to do with animals being abandoned in the first place.
A too-common example is a call recently received by an ARK shelter in Tokyo, from a woman who had two miniature dachshunds that she simply didn't want anymore. In this case ARK asked for a ¥30,000 surrender fee, which will go to the animals' upkeep, guaranteeing their safety and care. Simpson describes her as "someone who made a poor choice . . . If she had thought more, she may not have got them in the first place." Simpson wishes pet buyers would "smarten up."
The scene in my local park, where the cat population seems to be flourishing, suggests there remain many people with some learning to do.
Shiro-chan has disappeared, but the patch she once lurked in is now frequented by a younger tortoise-shell. Its fur was suspiciously well-kept the first time I saw it — recently abandoned, it seemed. The last time, its fur had lost its sheen, and it was scratching the sores that were beginning to develop around its ears.
[LIFE IN JAPAN]
Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2009
THE ZEIT GIST
Stray observations on booming pet culture
There are more pets than children in Japan, but troubling attitudes about treatment of animals are also widespread
By IAN PRIESTLEY
CONTINUED FROM newsjt2
ARK has been involved in a number of cases against breeders. In 2007, the organization investigated a breeder in Saga Prefecture, who kept Shiba dogs in cages covered in feces, stacked on top of each other, with dead animals caged together with the living. ARK contacted the governor of Saga and the police, and collected a petition. Media coverage amped up the pressure until the local government finally prosecuted.
Pet owners also have important responsibilities to live up to, of course, and local governments are working to make them do so. It is getting harder to simply dump a pet at a control center, wave goodbye and not have to think about the consequences. Employees at some centers now try and persuade owners not to abandon their animals, and make them fully aware of what will happen if they do.
In particular, the city of Kumamoto has taken a hard line, in some cases requiring owners to watch the animal being killed as a condition of abandonment. This does seem to be having an effect. The number of animals killed at the Kumamoto control center was 78 in 2007, down from 946 a decade earlier.
Once accepted by control centers, however, animals face almost certain death due to people's lack of willingness to adopt. Around 98 percent of cats brought in are killed.
Cuteness is a major criterion for pet choice (hence the over-representation of puppies and kittens in pet shop windows), and on this front animals in shelters tend to score low — many are disabled, blind, old or bear clear evidence of the kind of life they have led. The cuteness factor, or loss of it over time, also has a lot to do with animals being abandoned in the first place.
A too-common example is a call recently received by an ARK shelter in Tokyo, from a woman who had two miniature dachshunds that she simply didn't want anymore. In this case ARK asked for a ¥30,000 surrender fee, which will go to the animals' upkeep, guaranteeing their safety and care. Simpson describes her as "someone who made a poor choice . . . If she had thought more, she may not have got them in the first place." Simpson wishes pet buyers would "smarten up."
The scene in my local park, where the cat population seems to be flourishing, suggests there remain many people with some learning to do.
Shiro-chan has disappeared, but the patch she once lurked in is now frequented by a younger tortoise-shell. Its fur was suspiciously well-kept the first time I saw it — recently abandoned, it seemed. The last time, its fur had lost its sheen, and it was scratching the sores that were beginning to develop around its ears.
※コメント投稿者のブログIDはブログ作成者のみに通知されます