台灣近十年家犬總數下降原因之探討

Abstract

台灣家犬總數從民國八十八年的一百六十多萬隻，降低到民國九十六年的一百三十多萬隻，對照台北市家犬總數的調查，兩者均呈現下降趨勢。反觀世界先進國家，這十年來美國呈現明顯成長，從西元一九九九年的五千多萬隻家犬，到二零零七年的七千多萬隻家犬，增加兩千多萬隻家犬。台灣家犬總數下降的趨勢，與國際先進國家寵物犬飼養興盛之風背道而馳。 本研究做一個問卷調查來探討此現象之原因，針對民國九十年、九十二年全國家犬隨機抽樣調查中，將家中有飼養狗的家庭共2757份問卷，再次電話訪問來做追蹤性的問卷調查。調查其現在是否繼續飼養或過去飼養狀況，進而分析台灣飼養寵物犬的法令規範、居住環境、經濟成本、動物保護意識等等，會否是造成其飼養壓力或不願再飼養的因素。經過電話訪查後成功的問卷有1087份，其中發現有77%的受訪者聽過動物保護法；高達80.4%受訪者不覺得動保法會造成養狗的困擾；高達87%大眾不認為動物福利提升有造成養狗的壓力；大多數受訪者不認為養狗會造成經濟上的負擔；對於不再飼養狗隻之直接原因，以麻煩困擾、情感因素、環境限制為三大主要因素。 本研究認為國家經濟好壞與家犬數目的增減無明顯關係，但從其他研究報告中發現，喜好飼養寵物犬的家庭，一般是收入較高的家庭，而且飼養的數目也較多。由英美家犬持續成長的趨勢發現，世界動保的潮流並不會讓喜愛飼養寵物犬的風潮退縮。根據市場上的供需關係，將一年施打一次的犬用疫苗進口量與該年家犬總數的比，作為動物福利的量化指標，顯示台灣動物福利意識日益增長。 因著台灣社會道德的提升與動物福利意識的抬頭強化了養狗規範，讓想 養狗的人更加謹慎而不輕率。以及人與寵物犬連結關係與情感的深化，讓許多人感受到失去寵物的痛如喪親人，因不願意再次面對失去的痛而不敢再次養狗。加上政府長期宣導與節育政策，將家犬主要來源控制，因此台灣家犬總數呈現下降的趨勢。

Household dogs in Taiwan have decreased from the total number of estimated 1.6 million in 1999 to approximately 1.3 million in 2007; compared with the survey of the total number of household dogs in Taipei city, both results tended to decrease. On the contrary, when surveying developed countries in the world, we find that dogs in the USA significantly increased since the past decade, from the total number of about fifty million in 1999 to about seventy million in 2007, an increase of twenty million during this period. The tendency of decrease in the total number of household dogs in Taiwan diverges from prosperity of raising household dogs as pets in the developed countries. In this study, a questionnaire investigation was conducted to explore the cause of the phenomena. From samples of nationwide household dog investigation in 2001 and 2003, families with a dog or dogs were sampled, and there were total of 2757 questionnaires that were randomly picked. Based on the phone numbers given in the questionnaires, a follow-up questionnaire study was conducted in turn. It was surveyed if they are still raising a dog or dogs at present or how they raised a dog or dogs in the past. Based on the questionnaire results, it was further analyzed whether the regulations and rules of raising dogs, habitation environment, economic costs, and sense of animal protection are factors that result in creating stress in raising dog or cause unwillingness to raise dog(s). After interview by telephone, there were 1087 successful questionnaires. It was discovered 77% of the interviewees had heard of the Animal Protection Act; up to 80.4% of the interviewees did not feel that the Animal Protection Act generated inconvenience of dog raising; up to 87% of the interviewees did not feel that elevation of the animal welfare generated stress of dog raising; most of the interviewees did not feel that dog raising led to economic burden; for the direct cause for interviewees not to raise a dog or dogs anymore, there were three main causes, namely inconvenience and annoyance, affection and environmental limitation. It is this study’s belief that there is no correlation between economic state of the country and increase/decrease in the number of household dogs. However, it has been found in other studies that a family that is fond of dogs is in general a family with higher income and also with larger number of dogs. The world trend of animal protection does not cause the decline of dog raising trend, since the total number of dogs does not decrease, but grows from year to year in the UK and the USA, in which animal protection is mature and prudent. Most of dog owners in Taiwan do not feel that the Animal Protection Act generate stress for them. According to the supply and demand theory of the economics, annually administered vaccine for dogs is selected as quantification index of animal welfare based on the ratio of import quantity with the total number of dogs of the year and confirmed that the sense of animal welfare in Taiwan is growing daily. Due to elevation of social moral in Taiwan and the elevation of animal welfare, the constraint on dog raising is strengthened. People dare not recklessly raise a dog and are also constrained by the higher moral standard. The study reveals that among the interviewees who do not raise a dog any more, one of the main causes is that they feel inconvenience and annoyance in dog raising, and this is due to aberrant behavior of dogs, in particular dog barking, which is the most frequent aberrant behavior. Another important cause for people not to raise a dog anymore is that the relation-bond between human and dog are deepened. This makes many people feel like they’re losing a family member when they lose their pet. Because the Orientals incline to choose escape as the manner in which they deal with their feelings, they do not raise a dog due to the reason that they are not willing to face the pain of losing a family member again. The government’s long-term education guidance, the birth control policy, limits the source and makes the trend of decrease of household dogs in Taiwan.