The cats and dogs of Mt. Dulan

At 10am each morning, Wang Jia-xiang (王家祥) travels 20 km from Dulan to an elementary school in Taitung City, where he picks up food scraps. The scraps are then taken to feed over 60 stray dogs on a hidden piece of forested land, helping Wang Jia-xiang to save the cost of several bags of dog food. 

Over twenty years ago, Wang Jia-xiang was engaged in business and working in the newspaper industry, where he won several literary awards. Because of the low property prices in Taitung’s Dulan, in addition to the atmosphere created by the presence of many artists moving into the area, 11 years ago Wang decided to settle in Dulan, using his extra room to provide homestay accommodation.

He had no idea how tragic the stray cat and dog situation was in the area, “sometimes I would walk by and pretend not to see them, but couldn’t get to sleep at night. It wasn’t until after I began rescuing them that I slept well”. Ever since then, Wang has been a “loving father” to all the stray animals in the area. He uses his meager earnings from the homestay business and lectures that he gives to maintain his cat and dog homes. 

Without exception, stray animals face miserable conditions throughout Taiwan, but in eastern parts of the country where resources are even scarcer, people’s ideas are even more conservative. This means that even crueler methods are used to deal with stray cats and dogs. Witnessing Wang Jia-xiang perform the honorable role of voluntarily protecting the helpless cats and dogs of beautiful Dulan, makes it difficult for others to just walk away.

The cats and dogs of Mt. Dulan 

URL:https://www.peopo.org/news/272873

(以下是中文對照)

都蘭山下貓狗人

照片

王家祥每天早上十點從台東都蘭開20多公里車到台東的一間國小載廚餘，再送到隱蔽於草叢樹林裡的狗園餵養六十幾隻流浪狗，這樣一天就能省下幾包的飼料錢。

二十幾年前王家祥在高雄的報社工作和經商，曾多次獲得文學獎，因為看中台東都蘭的低房價和藝術家進駐風氣，十一年前搬來都蘭定居並利用家中多餘房間開起民宿，怎知鄉下流浪貓狗的悲慘狀況，讓他「有時經過視若無賭、晚上卻睡不著，救了以後就睡得著。」從此成為四處救援顧養的「愛爸」，以微薄的民宿和演講著作收入維持貓園狗園。

台灣流浪動物的慘狀各地無一倖免，但在東部能得到的資源更少，民眾的觀念更保守，對待貓狗的手段也更殘忍，王家祥自願擔負起都蘭這塊好山好水下無依貓狗的守護，身影義無反顧卻令人不捨。