Emma and Bob received a warm welcome at Animal Haven SoHo, where they were greeted by the Maddie's Fund mascot.
Mayor's Alliance Hosts Visit by Taiwanese Animal Enthusiasts
When Bob Wei-Lun Lin and his partner, Emma I-Chen Liu, planned their dream trip to New York, they had one thing in mind: animals.
Bob is a 30-year-old Ph.D. student, focusing on mobile communication technologies. Emma is a 29-year-old research assistant. They both have a keen interest in animal protection. They share their home with their dog, Furry, who they adopted three years ago and trained to pass the beginner and intermediate levels of obedience training. They worked with a private animal shelter called Eternal Love in Taoyuan, a province of Taiwan, where they helped to increase the shelter's adoption rate and promote spay and neuter within the community. Their "Dogs Home Club," which they founded at the National Central University (NCU) in Taiwan, was awarded the school's Best Club Award.
ASPCA President Ed Sayres welcomed Bob and Emma at the ASPCA's recently expanded shelter and adoption facility.
Then, in 2005, they entered a tour design competition held by the Youth Hope Foundation in Taiwan, which involved designing a "dream trip" with an altruistic purpose. Bob and Emma designed a trip to New York to learn everything they could about animal protection in the U.S. Their entry won the highest number of Internet votes, and the couple was chosen as the winners by the competition's referees. Their prize: a dream trip to New York City!
In preparation for their travels, Bob and Emma researched their trip on the Internet. Impressed by what they read about the progress being made in NYC by the Mayor's Alliance, they contacted the Alliance for guidance. They explained that they wanted to learn more about the methods and procedures being used by the Mayor's Alliance in order to share the experiences and programs within their own animal protection community in Taiwan. Bob explained that although they have many private animal shelters in Taiwan, they still have much to learn about treating stray animals.
So the Mayor's Alliance arranged for Bob and Emma to see firsthand how Alliance member organizations are working to save lives in NYC. First, they met with Ed Sayres, President of the ASPCA, and toured the ASPCA's recently renovated shelter and adoption center on East 92nd Street, escorted by Mayor's Alliance President Jane Hoffman. They toured Animal Haven's new adoption center in SoHo, where Animal Haven's Jennifer Bristol, Maddie (the six-foot Maddie's Fund mascot), and members of NYC's Chinese press greeted them. The reception at Animal Haven received coverage on Sino TV, World Journal, and Sing Tao Daily.
An ASPCA dog for adoption "teases" his visitors from inside his new state-of-the-art dog room.
At the The Humane Society of New York on East 59th Street, Anna-Marie Karash welcomed Bob and Emma and guided them through the facility's shelter and medical quarters. NYC's Animal Care & Control (AC&C) shelter on East 110th Street welcomed the visitors for a tour of the shelter and invited them to attend a volunteer training session. Stops at KittyKind's adoption center at PETCO in Union Square and City Critters' adoption location at PETCO in Kips Bay gave Bob and Emma a cat's-eye-view of adoptions in NYC.
One of the highlights of their NYC tour was a visit to the Long Island City offices of the ASPCA's Humane Law Enforcement (HLE) Unit, where they met Annemarie Lucas, Bill Dunn, Dale Riedel, and Joann Sandano — some of the HLE officers already familiar to them through Animal Planet's Animal Precinct, a popular television show even as far away as Taiwan. And rounding out their tour were visits to several NYC dog runs, pet supply stores, and boarding facilities.
Bob and Emma had the chance to meet with Animal Precinct's Joann Sandano, Annemarie Lucas, and other ASPCA Humane Law Enforcement (HLE) Unit officers.
Emma and Bob fulfilled their dream of coming to New York to see firsthand how New Yorkers care for both their companion animals and homeless animals. They recorded their experiences through photographs, note-taking, and literature, and are now back home sharing their experiences and learnings with their Taiwanese colleagues.
If you can read Chinese or have access to a translation program, such as babelfish.altavista.com you can read some of Bob and Emma's observations from their trip on their blog site at:
http://blog.pixnet.net/qqichen/category/266752
http://blog.pixnet.net/qqichen/post/4719715
