Hours Before Death
It is common knowledge that public animal shelters often face lack of facilities, space and funding to support the amount of dogs they capture from the streets, which result in hundreds of animals euthanised daily. Although people are aware of this, very few do anything about it, whether in providing food for the dogs in the pound, or creating awareness about the poor conditions these dogs have to live in… the public animal shelter remains as the place where once a dog enters it’s grounds, the chances of getting out alive is almost zero.
When I read this article about this Taiwanese photographer, Yun Fei Tou, I was immensely touched by his creative way of bringing this message to the public. His portraits of dogs, which was taken just minutes or hours before these dogs are euthanised, sends us an incredibly powerful message… the suffering, neglect, and the fate of these dogs in public animal shelters, regardless of their age and health condition.
I thought I should share these pictures with everyone here, to bring forward the message that Yun Fei Tou wanted to get across to the public. Please do share this article and pictures with as many people as you can…
Tsem Rinpoche
These powerful portraits of dogs minutes before being put down show the harsh realities facing many rescue centres every day
Taiwanese photographer Yun-Fei Tou has created early 19th-century style portraits of stray dogs in their last hours before being put down in the hope of raising awareness of animal rights.
In some cases the pups are in good condition while others are in tragic shape due to neglect, but all share the same fate, a fate they are quite upsettingly all unaware of.
“These portraits are taken on the very day on which the dogs depicted are about to be put down or mercifully killed in public pounds run by governmental agencies in Taiwan,” Yun-Fei Tou said.
“Utilizing the classic portrait style that originated in the early 19th century with the birth of photography as an art form, these photographs offer the viewer a chance to look attentively into a bleak future.”
[*All pictures: Yun-Fei Tou]
11:38AM, TAIWANESE PUBLIC SHELTER, TIME UNTIL EUTHANISED: 29 MINUTES
05:01AM, TAIWANESE PUBLIC SHELTER, TIME UNTIL EUTHANISED: 12.5 HOURS
10:00 A.M. TAIWANESE PUBLIC ANIMAL SHELTER TIME UNTIL EUTHANISED: 1.4 HOURS
04:17AM, TAIWANESE PUBLIC SHELTER, TIME UNTIL EUTHANISED: 13.2 HOURS
12:57PM, TAIWANESE PUBLIC SHELTER, TIME UNTIL EUTHANISED: 1.1 HOURS
10:54PM, TAIWANESE PUBLIC SHELTER, TIME UNTIL EUTHANISED: 1.2 HOURS
12:09PM, TAIWANESE PUBLIC SHELTER, TIME UNTIL EUTHANISED: 1.9 HOURS
03:17AM, TAIWANESE PUBLIC SHELTER, TIME UNTIL EUTHANISED: 14.2 HOURS
The photographer also spoke out against the idea that animal rights are only for sentimental “animal lovers”.
“The purpose of this project is to arouse people’s awareness of animals rights,” he said. “People should view animal rights as a moral issue rather than appealing to emotional affection. As Peter Singer wrote in his Animal Liberation, ‘The portrayal of those who protest against cruelty to animals as sentimental, emotional “animal-lovers” has had the effect of excluding the entire issue of our treatment of nonhumans from serious political and moral discussion.'”
Though these images were taken in Taiwan, the message should ring out across the world.
“Far too many dogs suffer abuse and neglect in all corners of the world; these photographs were taken in Taiwan, but dogs like these are present in many other countries too,” said Dee McIntosh, Battersea Dogs Home’s Director of Communications.
“These powerful images illustrate the shocking mistreatment and neglect shown to animals we term ‘man’s best friend’.
“Dogs and cats arrive at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home in many different conditions, some of which require urgent medical attention and staff and volunteers work tirelessly to give them the second chance they deserve in a loving home.
“Images like these from Taiwan, demand the answer to whether dogs really are man’s best friend, and show the harsh realities facing many rescue and rehoming centres every day.”
[Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/these-powerful-portraits-of-dogs-minutes-before-being-put-down-show-the-harsh-realities-facing-many-rescue-centres-9810297.html]
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Such expressive pictures. They show that these animals are someone, they are more than “an animal”, they have feelings and feel how they are treated. Thank you for these very expressive pictures showing these dogs in their last moments.
It shouldn’t be their last moments, they could find a family who cares for them. Adopt, don’t shop. These dogs deserve a chance for a better life.
Thank you for all the teams in rescue facilities for dogs and cats who help them so much, treat their wounds and give them hope and care.
This is a very powerful blog post. It captures the emotions and looks of the doggie’s last moment before they are being sent to their death bed. There are many stray dogs on the streets and they are the result of irresponsible owners not sending their pets for neutering.
California is a good example to learn from. They put these stray dogs in pet shops and encourages everyone to adopt them instead of buying a new puppy. It is a huge success and many stray dogs had a second chance in life and a warm place to call home. Everyone should learn from them and save innocent lives.
The images really portray their feeling before being euthanized. The picture used as a awareness campaign to educate the public to adopt instead of buying. Many strays was a lovey pet and best friend to a human before. It’s sad to see how the dogs end up to and the owner can just easily abandon them. The public realy has to look at these images and the caption. Imagine if the picture replaces the human picture. How would people feel? Dogs is still a living being that has feeling just that they can’t say it in our language to make us understand. That doesn’t stop us to learn to understand them. The dog does learn the command we train them so why not we also learn to understand them? Having a pet is a commitment for life and is not just for our leisure.
Your Next Meal!
Yummy? Tasty? Behind the scenes of the meat on your plates. Meat is a killing industry.
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videouploads/comment-1559986650.mp4
This is Daw
This is what they do to get meat on tables, and to produce belts and jackets. Think twice before your next purchase.
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videouploads/comment-1559986627.mp4
Don’t Take My Mummy Away!
Look at the poor baby chasing after the mother. Why do we do that to them? It’s time to seriously think about our choices in life and how they affect others. Be kind. Don’t break up families.
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videouploads/comment-1559986609.mp4
They do this every day!
This is how they are being treated every day of their lives. Please do something to stop the brutality. Listen to their cries for help!
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videouploads/comment-1559986591.mp4
What happened at Fair Oaks Farm?
The largest undercover dairy investigation of all time. See what they found out at Fair Oaks Farm.
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Looking into the eyes of those poor dogs make me heartbroken. Sad sad as if I saw right in front of me. These powerful images illustrate the shocking mistreatment and neglect of those dogs at the shelter home. Some of those images shows tears in their eyes, as though they knew their hours are near. Thank you Taiwanese photographer Yun-Fei Tou for sharing those images to bring awareness of those neglected dogs and raising the awareness of animal rights. When the space are running out at public animal shelters in Taiwan they are allowed to carry out mercy killings . …..heart breaking . Hopefully more could be done to safe those dogs. They deserved much better. Thank you Rinpoche for sharing.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing these powerful and lively photos taken by Yun Fei Tou, just to arouse the people’s awareness against animal cruelty.
These images draw my attention and let me think deeply that:
1. Stop buying any animal from a breeder or a pet shop. Adopt the animal from the reputable animal shelters or rescue in order to end the animal mills.
2. If we can’t make commitment or unable to adopt the animal, we can give support or contributions to the animal shelters.
3. Teach the kids at their very young age to respect and be kind to animals.
I feel so sad and tears drop when I saw the dog waiting euthanized photo. We should create public awareness on this issue by educate about love on the animals.Stray dogs must be reduced to avoid them send to public animal shelter and waiting euthanize.
Besides that, donations is needed to use for daily maintainance of the animal shelter.(give the dogs longer period to live while waiting for adoption).
May all the animals bless by Three Jewels and has good rebirth.
Thanks Rinpoche for kindness and compassion .
With folded hands,
Jason
These pictures are very hard to look at, the looks of despair and lost are displayed on all of their faces and this alone is a strong proof that animals or dogs in this case DO have feelings.
I do not support the fact that to euthanize an animal, it will ‘end’ their sufferings. Yes it will end their sufferings, but only for this life. I believe that there is an afterlife, meaning we all reincarnate and come back. Some come back as a human and some come back as an animal. Just because we end the suffering now, it doesn’t mean that the karma has ended. I know it’s harsh to watch our pets suffer but putting them to sleep doesn’t solve the issue entirely, not at least to people like me who deserve in reincarnation.
But in this case, the shelter is overwhelmed with dogs and there might not be a choice therefore it’s inevitable to euthanize them. Poor animals. Humans are so selfish, they keep the dogs when they need them and when they don’t anymore, they just dump them away and leave them to die. Shame on humanity. May these beautiful lives take a good rebirth and come back as humans to learn the dharma. Poor poor doggies, they really did not deserve that…
These images are really powerful. It shows that animals do show emotions and that their emotions are just as real as ours. We have no rights to be taking their lives away like this. They do not deserve to be living in such conditions as well. It is just not something that any living being should go through.
Through this it shows us again that we should always adopt and not buy. When we buy, we encourage more puppy mills to be producing the little puppies, leaving these dogs to pass on or to be put down.
shocking and haunting photo of the dogs before their death, this is really a harsh reality that many people around the world ignore and neglect their pets dispose of them when they are too tired and bored of caring for them, many buy pets base on impulse because they are cute or the in-thing, but when the pets becomes sick or old, or should we say they are not cute anymore, they abandon and even throw them out onto street and escape responsibility.
This is the main reason why there are so many strays on the street, and yet we blame the dog as nuisance or dangerous when there are cases of attacks. in actuality, we are the main culprit that led to their fate. Even though strays that are save and taken to animal shelter, does not GUARANTEE their safety, alas, when more and more strays are save and taken to shelter, the overcrowded shelter has no choice but to euthanize the dogs previously was shelter before. How horrible and cruel this is!
Why should they suffer being abandon, being beaten, having no food to eat, and then when everything seems ok in shelter, then their life was taken away because of overcrowded shelter or because they should be put to death as their life has no meaning?
we should penalized the pet owner for their action, and there should be strict regulation to those breeders who use animal as money making machine!
Previously , I do not know the true meaning of ‘adoption’, in the case of animals. Usually, we would have bought the seemingly ‘new’, nice, well-bred dogs from the pet shop. It was through a group discussion in Penang, a member has enlightened me in this part. Thanks to her that now, I know why we need to ‘adopt’ rather than buy. These pictures reminded me of a project by Water Schels on the pictures of human before and after death too. Both are similar but we tend to put more emphasis on human rather than animals. When I think back, how ignorant was I! But there are still people who are still unaware of this and all that I can do, is to be responsible and act accordingly. From my point of view, we cannot blame on one party such as the animal shelter. As part of the society, all of us are responsible. Although a simple thanks to Yun Fei Tou seems appropriate but more importantly, we should stand up like him, do our part, be responsible.
I believe that all the animal shelters have no intention of killing the dogs and cats, it is because they have no other choice. Not many people will adopt dogs and cats from there, and they also have a lot of problems such as not enough money to take care of all the dogs and cats, they don’t have enough space for all the animals that are being taken in everyday and more people are dumping their dogs away because of some various reasons.
So I think it is never the animal shelters wrong for putting the animals to sleep, it is always the people dumping their dogs on the roadside. And a few ways to lessen these activities, we have to donate more money to all the animal shelters, have more people to adopt dogs and cats and don’t dump your dogs away. Always remember why you brought it to your house and take good care of them.
These photographs are so immensely sad. It feels like the dogs know that they are going to be put down from these images. Animal shelters should be even more well funded, they aren’t receiving enough, if they do, they don’t have to resort to this. If they do this even if they are well funded then it is detestable.
Furthermore, people should adopt instead of buying puppies from shops as they are milled. Easing the burden off shelters leads to one less death by their hands.
So sad. I hope things get better as more people are educated.
Yun Fei Tou using the something different and creative to show/approach the world the plight and condition of animals in shelter homes. Pictures or photos not only paint thousand words but bring big impact to the viewers.
We would be surprised by the expression or eyes of the dogs which are so similar to human’s. I guess this is not because of the angle, lighting or skills used by the photographer. I believe it is because dogs like human, they do have feeling and soul. They are not robot/toy that can bought in to our life from a shop and throw away anytime we are not convenience or when they are sick, or not adorable anymore.
Please ADOPT instead of buying. Please do not send your pet to shelter homes, for they will be died in the shelter for 99.999%.
These pictures are very heartbreaking as the sadness, desperation and bitterness are all written on their faces, they knew that they were gonna die, that’s for sure, I strongly disagree with what the shelters are common in doing nowadays which is euthanizing dogs. We have no rights to take away someone else’s life even though its just an animal, there’s no difference between these dogs wandering on the streets and bringing them in this way, because they are still gonna die, if the shelters were to euthanize them, then I really do not understand what’s the purpose of bringing them in, allowing them to think that they finally have a ” home ” or someone they can finally rely on, then after all these, its just another dead end. Euthanizing a dog is very bad, no matter if your intention were good or bad, taking someone else’s life away is still a wrong thing to do. I hope that more people will look into this and help to spread awareness, the dogs deserve a second chance to live.
These are truly terrifying pictures and it makes me feel so sad as this practice will not be stopped as the animals are just “not cute enough” or “too old”. Those are the main reasons why they wont get adopted or rescued because people will not care to help the ones they “don’t like”, it is not their fault. Look at how they look, some of them have problems that I am sure wasn’t helped or was caused by the dreaded place of death.
Just think of it, they won’t want to help the ones that actually have problems and that is why they won’t get adopted, because people don’t like problems and they don’t like that look or they just want a dog that is a puppy. People are selfish, what gives us the right to put ourselves at the top, to kill others, to use their habitats to create our cities. We are the problem. not them… not them at all.
If you truly do not like this, please help out instead of just saying, “oh how sad” because that is the easy way out. We must help show people what is happening and help stop the practice of killing. These poor poor animals are doomed because WE THINK they don’t belong in our environments so they are sent away to the pound. It is our fault. Just think of them for once people. Come on, help them, they could really use it.
They all look very sad, so hopeless. It’s difficult to look into those eyes. Its a global problem that needs to be addressed.
Thank you Rinpoche for your kind sharing.The emotion found in those could bring tears to anyone who has any sense of compassion to any living beings.We certainly hope for those unfortunate animals to given their rights to live just like us in this troubled world of selfishness and caring for only their own kind.
Thank you for timely reminder for us to understand our level of compassion and how sincere is our actions.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing on Yun-Fei Tou’s pictures of hours before the dogs are euthanized. It is a very sad news to know that these dogs were rescued from the streets supposed to have lived longer under the dogs’ shelter with sufficient food and treatment for better health and good hygiene. However, the true facts are the space constraint and limited budget to keep the increasing stray dogs has always started to euthanize the older dogs as an easy way so that it can give space for other new stray dogs to come in. This is totally not a good solution as we have ended their lives much earlier rather than saving them. This has defeated the intended mission, that is to save animals from sufferings and pain. I sincerely hope and pray for the authority to look for more alternatives and at the same time to educate the pet owners for not abandoning their dogs and implement strict penalty for those who do so. May all the animals be freed from pain and sufferings, and gain good rebirth to practise Dharma in their next lifetime. Om Mani Padme Hum
Some of the dogs are in so poor and weak condition. Before enough love and care was given, they are put down… is really so tragic…
It’s almost they know… from these pictures…
Yun Fei-Tou really captured the soul and delivered a powerful message.
Mr.Tou將小狗们最後一刻逝去的情景给拍下来，它们眼里只有充满悲傷，無人照顧的無奈，结束這期不幸的生命，真的很難過……這應該喚醒更多的人意識到動物所面对的痛苦，它们也希望能平稳的生活下去。感谢仁波切提醒我们要對衆生慈悲。
These pictures show how powerful art can be to send a message compared to words. They show very poignantly how these dogs feel just hours to their death. These haunting looks in their eyes show a longing for love, a longing to be free, a longing to belong.
It is sad that when they were pets, there was at least some show of care for them, and now they are mere discards, whose fates have already been decided, without their knowing.
Thank you Rinpoche for the sharing. I did not treat my pets well. I will treat them well in future. Thank you Rinpoche for the teaching.
Sad!!!!
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this information ,indeed very sad to look at all these dog a lot of us do not aware about their suffering and pain we always think since they cannot talk so is ok to abandon them even abuse them the human self cherishing mind are so strong we only think of our self our own convenient is very important for all of us to create an awareness about all these stray cats and dogs do not abuse them even if you do not like them.
A picture speaks a thousand words of the emotions of these dogs. How we wish we can take the pain away from them. We can help by passing words to remind our friends to adopt from Shelters . Remind them to never ever abandon their pet. Never ever walk out of their lives and leave them alone.
Dear Toh, Yes I agree with you. When we adopt instead of buying our pets, we give these dogs a second chance in life. We should always educate our friends and family to adopt rather than buy… because even buying pets, there’s a whole cycle of suffering behind the scenes ie puppy mills. Dato Ruby can tell you the story when she rescued 2 pure breed Westies from a puppy mill in Malaysia… they were in terrible condition, so much abuse and neglect.
These photographs of these stray just hours before their final breath are very powerful. You can see in their eyes that they know “something” and the despair and helplessness they feel is unimaginable. We may not speak their language and they hours but one thing is for sure… they feel.
It is sad that dog shelters running on very low budgets have no choice put to put them down. It doesn’t help when we keep buying from pets shops and breeders instead of adopting one from a shelter. And it is even worst when we become irresponsible and heartless to abandon our pet the moment we find them inconvenience. Many strays, if you visit a shelter, are actually thorough breads abandoned by their owner. Most of them abused, with diseases, injuries etc. Animals should have rights just like us humans, they were created to live on this planet just like us! We like to say a dog is a man’s best friend but are we a dog’s best friend?
I am not sure how we could ever improve this situation because as long as there are people wanting to buy thorough breads or pets from pet shops instead of adopting one from the shelter, over population in shelters are not going to ever stop. This is a sad reality hence education is so desperately needed and it should start in school, educating our kids about compassion, kindness, a dog is not an object or a “thing” but a “living being” and “somebody” too.
I hope, pray and will share YUN-FEI TOU campaign, may it go world wide in bringing light to Animal Rights, Equality and creates the necessary awareness about the poor conditions dogs have to live in shelters homes all around the world!
Thanks Rinpoche for always remind us to catch up more awareness to all sentient beings as Rinpoche.
Mr Tou really make his efforts and care when taking the doggies photos, may the doggies able to take a good rebirth and meet Dharma in their next life. Om Mane Padme Hum…
Very haunting pictures of these poor dogs.Looking into their eyes shows what most of them are waiting for.It’s not for food or to be set free. Human affection is what they seek.Be kind to animals!
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this incredible post.May these images arouse people’s awareness against animal cruelty.
Mr.Tou really catch up the soul of the doggie before the last moment. ..It were full of sad, grief and the feelings of no one to care…really sad…This should reach out to more people to create the awareness how suffering of the animals, they wish to live on also..
I see from these dogs eyes that they know that they were going to put down..How sad is their eyes..
Dear Shane, yes it’s true, so much pain and neglect =(
Thank you for the inspiration Rinpoche. I am going to spread compassion with my own version. Being too direct and bluntly Buddhist gets me enemies I don’t need. Thanks again, la. 🙂