Taichung to probe fire death of dozens of dogs, cats

The Taichung City Animal Protection and Health Inspection Office yesterday said it plans to investigate the deaths of more than 30 dogs and cats that perished in a fire on Saturday night in a three-story building in the city’s Longjing District (龍井).

The Taichung City Fire Bureau said it received a call about a blaze at the 70m2 rented townhouse just before 10pm, and dispatched 13 firetrucks and 32 firefighters to the scene.

After extinguishing the fire at 10:31pm, firefighters discovered that more than 40 dogs and cats were being kept inside the building, it said, adding that only eight were rescued alive.

The Animal Protection Office yesterday sent personnel to inspect the townhouse, but were unable to enter, as the fire bureau was still investigating the blaze, the Taichung Agriculture Bureau said.

City officials have also spoken with the owner of the animals, who was planning to contact a pet funeral services company to have the dead dogs and cats cremated, the Agriculture Bureau said.

The owner is a private citizen and “did not own more than the maximum number” of pets allowed under the law, the bureau said, without specifying what the maximum was allowed for a building of that size.

It said it would investigate the incident to determine whether any animal protection laws were contravened.