Where does the blood come from when a child is injured and needs a blood transfusion? The lament of the Taiwanese blood dog that was raised to rub blood
Is raising blood dogs in order to obtain animal blood really the solution?
Whenever there is blood in the blood bank, we will always see news and advertisements calling for everyone to donate blood. But have you ever wondered where our precious hairy child gets its blood when it has health problems and needs a blood transfusion? How are animal blood banks built? Today I want to talk to you about the blood dog problem in Taiwan.
"Blood dogs", as the name suggests, are dogs specially raised to draw blood. It is very important to establish a blood bank of animals, animal hospitals often have dogs that need blood transfusions and surgery, and precious blood drawn from blood dogs can save the lives of many dogs. But is raising blood dogs in order to obtain animal blood really the solution?
Sitting in a trap cage, oversampling a kilogram... Animal hospitals abuse blood dogs
In December 2018, a well-known animal hospital in Taipei City, Taiwan Province, was exposed by the media to breed blood dogs and oversample the blood of dogs, resulting in anemia, soft feet and other problems in blood dogs. Veterinarians inside the hospital broke the news to the media that there are 25 blood dogs in the hospital, and the source of blood transfusions in at least 32 veterinary hospitals comes from this. The animal hospital used the blood of blood dogs to make platelet fibrin, the cost of treatment was as high as NT$30,000, and even used the female dog who was born by caesarean section in the hospital to privately make "mesenchymal stem cells" for sale, without the owner knowing it.
The 25 blood dogs that were abused were properly placed after the incident. The picture shows the former "Duke" of lingdi (right) with his new partner
The media exposed the breeding environment of blood dogs in animal hospitals, and found that the hospital raised blood dogs in cages in small rooms, and even let 2 or 3 blood dogs squeeze in a cage, and blood dogs usually stay in the cage of the hospital to spend their days, and only bring out blood when there is a need for blood draw, there is simply not enough room for activity. The blood drawing process is not necessarily humane, and insiders broke the news that in order to draw the blood of the dog, a veterinarian inserted 4 stitches in the neck of the blood dog, so that the blood flow of the blood dog on the spot needed to stop the bleeding immediately.
In addition to the harsh living environment and cruel blood drawing methods, the animal hospital also oversampled the blood of dogs.
A bloody dog was drawn 1025 ml of blood within a month, which doubled the allowable value of the blood draw of the blood dog, and the blood dog also had symptoms such as anemia, soft feet, and prostration under the excessive amount of blood drawn. The tragic situation of the blood dog made the veterinarians in the hospital look down, and they left their jobs or disclosed the situation of the blood dog to the media.
This case reveals that bleeding dogs have become profit-making tools for animal hospitals, and whether blood dogs are treated humanely in the process of providing blood is the focus of attention from all walks of life. The Taipei Municipal Animal Protection Department subsequently fined the animal hospital 265,000 yuan in accordance with the local Animal Protection Law (hereinafter referred to as the Animal Protection Law), including violating Article 22, Item 3 of the Animal Protection Law, failing to declare to the Animal Protection Department the need to be exempted from sterilization and breeding in accordance with the law, that is, breeding dogs without permission, and imposing a fine of 250,000 yuan; It also violated article 6 of the Animal Protection Law and deliberately injured animals and imposed a fine of 15,000 yuan. However, as far as the protection and norms of animal blood drawing are concerned, in the absence of special provisions in the Animal Protection Law, the blood dogs raised in animal hospitals themselves have not violated the law, forming a dilemma of unmanageability.
Pet Blood Bank
In recent years, pet keeping has become more and more popular, and the care of "hairy children" has become more meticulous. Pets will not always be healthy, when pets are injured or sick for any reason and need to be operated, there is a need for blood transfusion, but animal blood is difficult to obtain, which will encourage hospitals to privately use animals such as blood dogs to treat or profit. Blood dogs are a problem that may occur in all countries in the world, and Taiwan can refer to the experience of other countries to manage the current blood dog chaos.
In order to solve the problem of insufficient animal blood banks, British veterinarians established pet blood bank (PBB) in 2007, which is the first and currently only public welfare group for animal blood donation recognized by the government in the UK. More than 10 years after the Pet Blood Donation Bank was established, more than 10,000 animals have donated blood with the consent of their owners. At present, the Pet Blood Donation Bank is open to owners to bring their dogs, cats or alpacas to the Blood Donor Bank to donate blood, and to give the owner a detailed description of the conditions, process and significance of allowing pets to donate blood on the website.
Dogs with red ribbons are promoting blood donations from pets
Not all pets in the UK can donate blood, and pet blood donation banks have blood donation standards in terms of pet type and individual physical condition of pets. Taking dog blood donation as an example, the British Pet Blood Bank sets seven criteria for blood donor dogs: fit and healthy, aged between 1 and 8 years old, weighing more than 25 kg, having a good temperament, never travelling outside the UK and Ireland, having been vaccinated or tested annually after the first year of vaccination booster, and not being treated with any medication. The British Pet Blood Donation Bank also specially noted on the website that pets who hope to donate blood are willing to go to the animal hospital, if the pet will be nervous and afraid of life when going to the hospital, it is not recommended to donate blood, because the happiness of the pet is always preferred.
The British Pet Blood Donation Bank presents the blood donation process in its website in its entirety, allowing owners to donate blood to their dogs with peace of mind. First, the veterinarian will do a health check before the dog donates blood, check the dog's medical history, and trim and clean the hair on the neck donation site, and then draw a small amount of blood from the dog to test. Once it is determined that the dog can donate blood, the veterinarian will guide the dog to lie down and draw 450 ml of blood from the dog in 5 to 10 minutes.
The dog that donates blood will be encouraged by the veterinary team to touch the belly, and let the dog drink water and eat snacks, and the owner can also get a gift bag containing toys and snacks when he takes the dog home, so that the dog can eat and take, and also help the owner to cultivate the intimate relationship with the pet. The Pet Blood Donation Bank recommends that dogs after donating blood should take a day off on the day of blood donation and return to normal life the next day. According to the Pet Blood Donation Bank, each dog can save up to 4 dogs' lives per blood donation.
The perfect pet blood donation system makes every pet raised by each owner become a potential blood donation object, effectively reducing the motivation of raising blood dogs in animal hospitals; Experienced special agencies are responsible for pet blood donation, and can take care of the health of blood donor dogs, especially the health examination in advance can help to grasp the health status of dogs. A blood donor dog, Layla, found a tumor in the body during a health examination before donating blood, allowing Layla to quickly seek medical treatment and remove the tumor.
Animal blood donation station, blood donation dog and cat information media platform... put an end to blood dog lamentations
The 2018 blood dog scandal in the animal hospital brought the issue of the protection of the rights and interests of Taiwan's blood dogs to the surface, and the government and relevant groups also proposed an alternative plan for raising blood dogs, implementing a blood donation dog system similar to that in the United Kingdom. In fact, as early as 2016, the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology established the Veterinary Blood Transfusion Medical Center to solve the problem of animal blood, and then cooperated with the Taichung General Hospital of the National Animal Hospital to establish an animal blood donation station in Taichung in 2019, and opened pet blood donation on the third Sunday of each month from 10:00 to 16:00. When the owner brings his pet to donate blood, he will first go through the preliminary screening of the staff and test for parasites, scorch worms, and blood group before donating blood. When the pet's blood donation is complete, the owner will get a pack of feed, and the team will take the collected blood back to the medical university laboratory, and after further testing, provide the animals that need blood urgently.
In order to solve the problem that pets require emergency blood transfusions, but there is no complete system for owners and animal hospitals to inquire whether there is a suitable blood donation pet, under the guidance of the Taipei Municipal Animal Protection Office, the Taipei Municipal Federation of Veterinarians set up a blood donation dog and cat information media platform in August 2020, flaunting a transparent, open, money-free information platform, open veterinary hospital cooperation, and owners who intend to let hairy children donate blood can also register online, and read the blood donation dog cat Q &A on the website to better understand the process and related regulations of pet blood donation.
Group photo of the "Blood Donation Dog and Cat Information Media Platform" on August 1, 2020
After the outbreak of the blood dog scandal in the animal hospital, it also highlighted the inadequacy of the "Animal Protection Law" that it is difficult to protect blood dogs. The Animal Protection Law divides animals into economic animals, experimental animals, pets and other animals, a total of four categories to stipulate the norms of protection, but blood dogs are not economic animals nor experimental animals, and they belong to pets in identity, so owners only need to meet the protection standards of pets when raising blood dogs, and in the absence of relevant blood transfusion norms, legal loopholes are formed.
In view of this, the Prevention and Inspection Bureau of the Taiwan Agricultural Committee convened the Veterinarians Association and other organizations in 2019 to study and consult, and then in October 2019, it was determined that the blood transfusion of dogs and cats meets the basic requirements for animal protection, and the blood volume ratio, heme and blood donation amount of dogs and cats are specified. If a veterinarian or owner violates this basic requirement when drawing blood for dogs or cats, it will involve a violation of the Animal Protection Law. If the veterinarian has to violate the basic requirements for blood draw due to special circumstances such as emergency treatment, he must notify the animal insurance authority within 48 hours for reference.
In recent years, the government has strengthened the supervision and control measures for animal blood donation, but in fact, the overall animal blood donation mechanism in Taiwan has not yet been established, and only a few units have set up veterinary blood transfusion medical centers and information media platforms. At this stage, it is still necessary for the government to actively legalize the protection of blood dogs, whether it is to amend the "Animal Protection Law" to make the rights and interests of blood dogs clearly regulated, or to increase the penalties for violators, it is necessary for the government to discuss and work together with the veterinary community and animal protection groups to make these blood dogs who save the lives of other dogs get their due rights.