Pre-Euthanasia Stray Dog Portraits in Taiwan

This video is a report on Taiwanese photographer Tou Chih-kang’s work in taking photographic portraits of stray dogs just before they are euthanised (Huffington Post article here).

In a country where pet dogs are typically treated as playthings and all too readily abandoned to the streets, an estimated 80,000 will be euthanised this year alone reflecting the “still immature nature of the island’s dog-owning culture”.

Some of the portraits of 400 dogs that Tou has taken have been put on public exhibition and his belief is that “something should not be told but should be felt.” Given that buying a cute puppy is usually a decision made by the heart this could well be a powerful way to touch people and instill a stronger sense of the responsibility of pet ownership. That is, providing that enough people who do not already have this sense of responsibility can be persuaded to view the exhibition.

Learn more about the lives and issue of unowned dogs in my e-book ”A Stray View” available from Bangkok Books (readable as .pdf on any computer)