Taiwan is one of the most fascinating countries we’ve looked at because it challenges a belief that many animal advocates hold
If euthanasia stops, the problem is solved.
Taiwan shows that it is not always that simple.
Why Taiwan Has Become a No-Kill Shelter Pressure Zone
In 2017, Taiwan became one of the first places in Asia to end routine euthanasia of animals in public shelters. The policy followed years of public concern about shelter killing and formally ended the practice of euthanising healthy animals because they had run out of time in the system.
The policy was widely welcomed. For many people, it represented a major animal welfare victory. But almost immediately, a new question emerged.
What happens when animals keep entering shelters faster than they leave them?
Researchers studying Taiwan’s public shelters have since identified overcrowding as a significant welfare concern. A 2025 study examining welfare conditions in Taiwanese public animal shelters noted that prolonged stays and overcrowding were continuing challenges and warned that many shelters were operating under pressure.
Public shelter euthanasia rates are now reported to be below 1% but the issue is that dogs may remain in shelters for extended periods when adoption cannot keep pace with intake.
This creates a different type of welfare concern. Animals may be safe from euthanasia but still experience limited space, chronic stress, constant barking environments, reduced behavioural enrichment & long-term confinement
The 2025 welfare assessment identified limited space, anxiety-related disorders and depressive-type conditions among the most serious welfare concerns affecting shelter dogs.
This tension has become significant. During 2025, citizen petitions and public discussions again raised concerns about overcrowding and quality of life inside shelters.
Importantly, Taiwan is not experiencing the kind of high-risk shelter pressure seen in the United States or South Korea. The outcomes are fundamentally different.
The United States raises the question:
Why are so many animals still being euthanised?
South Korea raises the question:
Can the shelter system absorb abandonment and the dog meat industry transition?
Taiwan raises a different question entirely:
What happens when euthanasia largely disappears but shelter capacity remains finite?
That makes Taiwan unique in the Dog Desk framework.
Taiwan demonstrates that reducing euthanasia is an important achievement. But it also demonstrates that animal welfare cannot be measured solely by how many animals leave shelters alive. The quality of life experienced by animals while they are there matters too.
For that reason, Taiwan is probably best understood not as a crisis zone and not as a high-risk shelter pressure zone, but as one of the world’s clearest examples of a No-Kill Pressure Zone.
Taiwan's experience has prompted debate among some commentators about how shelters should respond when capacity becomes severely stretched. Dog Desk Animal Action does not support euthanasia as a solution to overcrowding and remains opposed to the killing of healthy animals for population management. The challenge highlighted by Taiwan is not whether animals should live, but how to ensure that animals who do live have sufficient space, enrichment, care and opportunities to leave shelters for permanent homes.