Distraught after being berated by animal activists for euthanising too many dogs, a veterinary doctor and director of an animal shelter in Taiwan has reportedly committed suicide.
The threats started coming in after Jian Zhicheng, the director of the Xinwu Animal Protection and Education Centre, revealed that she was forced to euthanise 700 dogs in just two years due to overcrowding issues at the animal shelter.
Jian was also burdened by the euthanisations, according to a note she wrote, The Daily MailOnline reported, citing Chinese media sources.
Her death on May 12 was confirmed by a staff member from the Taoyuan Office of Animal Care and Control to MailOnline, although they declined to reveal the exact cause of her death.
“Public animal shelters are allowed to carry out mercy killings when they are running out of space, according to Taiwanese law,” the staff member told MailOnline.
“Since this is an animal shelter, it cannot refuse to take in stray animals, when there are more coming in than leaving, and in order to maintain the standard of the living quality of animals here, this is allowed,” said the article.
Sina Weibo
410 dogs and 94 cats are currently housed in the Xinwu animal shelter, which has a capacity for 500 dogs and 100 cats.
Colleagues described Jian as a kind-hearted and dedicated person. Reported to be 31-years-old, Jian had been working at the state-run shelter for a couple of years, MailOnline reported.
She had revealed the euthanisation figures in a news report, leading animal rights activists to brand her as a ‘female butcher’ and ‘butcher with beauty’.
Upset by the name-calling and the woes faced by the animal shelter due to the increasing number of animal abandonment cases, Jian was under immense pressure to solve the problem.
According to People’s Daily Online, her husband lodged a police report after she failed to return home on May 5. She was later found unconscious on the same day by the police after injecting euthanasia drugs meant for the animals. She died in the hospital a week later.
In Singapore, animal euthanasia statistics have been on the downward trend for years.
Latest statistics from the Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015 show that a total of 963 animals were euthanised, down from 1,068 in the preceding period.
In SPCA’s 2013-2014 report, the animal welfare charity noted that it is often the shelter of choice because of space constraints elsewhere.
“Any organisation which takes in strays, in Singapore at least, must grapple with the issue of the space to house them in.
“Although SPCA’s euthanasia rate has decreased, this has been attributed to fewer animals being taken in, as counselling of pet owners is rigorously carried out by frontline staff, in an effort to persuade owners to look for other alternatives for their unwanted pets.
“This [decline in euthanasia rates] is indicative of our continued efforts to find solutions to a continual inflow of surrendered pets and abandoned animals that are presented to us daily,” said the report.
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