Massive rallies in Taiwan demonstrate the vibrant civil society on the island.

A recent protest led by university students took the cudgels for putting a greater attention to animal cruelty, amassing a congregation of 4,000 supporters on a street in Taipei.

Per the Ministry of Agriculture, there were 160,000 stray dogs in Taiwan in 2022. While some well-meaning citizens feed stray animals regularly, wildlife advocates argue that feeding strays increases their population, which leads to the escalation of attacks on local fauna, promotes disease transmission and thus threatens Taiwan's wildlife diversity.

The Endemic Species Research Institute said the number of wild animals attacked by stray dogs and cats has increased three times in 10 years, putting species, like leopard cats and pangolins, at risk.

That said, microchip implants in pet dogs have been mandatory in Taiwan since 1999 and some local governments, such as Taipei City, even require owners to implant microchips in pet cats to prevent pets from getting lost or abandoned.

Moreover, as Taiwan faces rapid population aging and the total fertility rate declined from nearly four live births per woman in 1971 to only one in 2021, more households own pets nowadays and the Council of Agriculture established the pet-management division in 2022 to take better care of pet animals.

Chen Chi-chung, then chairman of the COA, said that the division will put pet dogs and cats (and reptiles and birds) under its supervision to protect their welfare.

Meanwhile, animal-rights activists are promoting "Adopt, don't shop" and pet household registration system in Taiwan.

Advocacy groups assert that pets are family members, thus the government should include the information of how many pets a family has, as well as pet acquisition and deaths, in the household record.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen owns two cats and three dogs, all of them adopted.

Her first cat, Cookie, was rescued by Bi-khim Hsiao, then legislator and current representative of Taiwan to the US, on the wake of typhoon "Gener" that hit Taiwan in 2012; Tsai's second cat, Ah-Tsai, was given to her in 2015 by a pineapple-farm owner in Taitung City.

Tsai's two dogs Bunny and Maru are retired guide dogs. Lele, meanwhile, is a Jack Russell terrier once deployed in search and rescue.

It is also worth noting another recent rally in Taiwan, a pride march that aggregated 180,000 people, the biggest in east Asia.

It was aimed at "recognizing the diversity of every person, and respecting and accepting different gender identities."

Sandra Oudkirk, director of the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto Embassy of the US; and Jean-Luc Romero-Michel, the deputy mayor of Paris, attended the march and praised the legalization of same-sex marriage in Taiwan.