The owner of a hybrid pit bull terrier will be fined after the dog attacked and killed a pet cat in Hsinchu County, the county’s domestic animal disease control and prevention center said Friday.
The attack occurred Thursday when the pit bull terrier, suspected of having been deserted by its owner, broke into a residence in Zhudong Township and mauled a house cat to death, center chief Peng Cheng-yu (???) told CNA.
After receiving a report of the attack, the center sent people to the scene where they caught the dog and took it back to the center, and it lowered its head after being locked in a cage, a gesture suggesting it realized it was in trouble, Peng said.
The dog had a collar on, meaning it was probably taken care by somebody before being abandoned to fend for itself on the town’s streets, he said.
The center has launched a search for the owner, who will be fined for the fatal attack based on the Animal Protection Act, under which dogs categorized as “aggressive” can only be walked in public by an adult and must be properly leashed and muzzled.
Violations of the law are subject to fines of NT$30,000 (US$1,084) to NT$150,000.
Six breeds of dogs are categorized by the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture (COA) as “aggressive” — the American pit bull terrier (APBT) and mixed APBT, Tosa, Neapolitan mastiff, Brazilian mastiff, Dogo Argentino, and Molossian hound.
The agency further announced in November last year that starting on March 1, 2022, pit bull terriers will be banned from being kept as a pet or imported.
Those who own pit bull terriers before that deadline must register their ownership of the animals with local authorities before Feb. 28, 2023, or face a fine of up to NT$250,000 and have their dogs be seized and taken to public shelters, according to the COA.
There have been many reports of attacks by pit bull terriers in Taiwan, including one in which a three-year-old boy was bitten to death by a pit bull owned by his neighbors in Pingtung County in December last year.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel