(Taiwan) Government urged to punish hotel for animal abuse

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Government urged to punish hotel for animal abuse

 

2010/03/29 18:28:38

 

Taipei, March 29 (CNA) An animal protection group urged the government Monday to

enforce the law and punish the managers of a local hotel and a Chinese chef for

animal abuse after the chef threw a live chicken into a pot of boiling water in

public.

 

The chef, Zhang Xiaochun, was invited to perform a 3-minute chicken-cooking

skills presentation at a press conference held by the Holiday Inn East Taipei in

Taipei County March 21. Zhang scalded the chicken to death before plucking it

and proceeding with the rest of the cooking process, the Environment and Animal

Society of Taiwan (EAST) said.

 

" It was a wrong demonstration " that violated Taiwan's laws regulating animal

protection and the slaughter of livestock, said EAST Director Chen Yu-min,

noting that the press conference was a public relations event.

 

Those who attended the press conference included not only the hotel's general

manager, Liu Heng-ching, but also Taipei County Director of Tourism and Travel

Bureau Lee Chung-kuei, as well as reporters.

 

Through the subsequent media reports, what the public read and saw was " negative

information " portraying the abuse and brutal killing of animals, the EAST said,

warning that Zhang's culinary performance could lead to copycat killings by

local people.

 

The influence of such demonstrations can be profound, Chen noted.

 

According to the EAST, the law states that the slaughter of poultry is only

allowed to be performed at certified local traditional markets or private homes.

Hotels are not on the list and the regulations stipulate that they must use meat

from legal slaughterhouses, it noted.

 

EAST officials said the organization has filed a complaint against Zhang and

Liu, as well as Holiday Inn East Taipei Chairman Chang Shan-liang, with the

Taipei District Prosecutors Office, demanding an investigation into the case.

 

Meanwhile, government officials responsible for animal industry and quarantine

affairs were unanimous that the public demonstration of the inhumane killing of

a chicken violated the law.

 

Hsu Kuei-sen, director of the Animal Industry Department under the Council of

Agriculture (COA) , said the conduct of boiling a chicken alive violates the

Animal Protection Act.

 

However, it is the local government that has the authority to enforce the law,

Hsu said, noting that it is up to the Taipei County Government to decide what

action it will take on the matter.

 

Denouncing the culinary demonstration for violating both the humanitarian code

and the Animal Industry Act, Huang Kuo-ching, deputy director-general of the

COA's Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, suggested

that the local government should fine the hotel.

 

Under the law, the fines for such a crime range between NT$100,000 and

NT$500,000 (US$15,700), according to Huang.

 

Taipei county officials were unavailable to comment on the matter.

 

The Taipei-based EAST, established in 1999, is a non-profit, non-government

organization that campaigns for improvements for animals, people and the

environment in Taiwan. It believes human welfare is closely linked to animal

welfare and environmental protection. (By Yang Shu-min and Elizabeth Hsu)

ENDITEM/J