Foxconn Hon Hai Group's Chairman Terry Gou signed a Memorandum of Understanding with President of NTU Dr. Si-chen Lee in the morning of October 9th, in which the Yon-ling Social Welfare Charity Foundation pledged to donate N.T. 200 million to NTU to implement the "Caring for life, and Loving Animals" charity program. At the same time, President Lee also signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with Taipei County Magistrate Mr. Hsi-Wei Chou.

  Based on its concern for the lives of underprivileged groups and care for the issues of stray animals, the Yon-ling Charity Foundation plans to implement a three-year, 200 million N.T, program, entrusting NTU to set up a "Development Fund for Animal Welfare Promotion," whose series of activities will be executed by the Department of Veterinary Science of NTU, and assisted by the government of Taipei County. Dubbed as "Caring for Life, and Loving Animals" charity program, the Development Fund will be managed by a committee of professionals known for their care of animal welfare from government, industry and academic circles who will be responsible for reviewing programs, managing the funds, and tracking the results of implementation.

  The said program will import management personnel and related training courses from abroad which conform to international standards. It will stage a comprehensive upgrading of the education and promotion of animal care, and reduce the number of stray dogs from the very source. Step by step, the program will establish stray animals medical care networks, recruit animal hospitals and veterinarians to join the program, implant microchips into the stray dogs and implement an intensive sterilization surgery program, thereby reducing the number of stray dogs effectively through humane means. While sterilizing the animals, rabies vaccine will be injected into the stray dogs to strengthen the prevention of the spread of rabies.

  The 200 million N.T. donation is by far the largest single amount received in Taiwan with regard to animal welfare and animal care. In addition to expressing their gratitude to Chairman Terry Gou and the Yon-ling Charity Foundation, President Lee and Taipei County Magistrate Mr. Hsi-wei Chou also admired Chairman Gou's sense of mission and his commitment to society. They hoped that all sectors of society would follow suit, making their contributions by taking practical actions to prevent cruelty to animals.

  There are three main ingredients relating to Yon-ling Foundation's donation. First, the Foundation hopes to cut down the number of stray animals by hiring experts to offer training courses in education and promotion; second, the Foundation will grant subsidies to all social groups involved with animal welfare; and thirdly, the foundation intends to set up animal health care networks.

  Speaking at the press conference of the donation ceremony, President Lee pointed out that, prior to making his 15 billion donation to NTU to set up the Cancer Research Center, Chairman Gou had already decided to donate 200 million to NTU to solve the problem of vagrant animals. President Lee said that aside from teaching and conducting research, the purpose of an university was to care for society. Professors spend their lifetime pursuing academic excellence for one purpose only—to solve the problems of society. He maintained that Yon-ling Foundation's generous donation helped NTU greatly to fulfill its purpose. As the donation is scheduled for a three-year implementation span, President Lee hoped that the Program would be able to solve the problems of vagrant animals within the Taipei County for the first three years, then move on to neighboring cities and counties step by step.

  In delivering his speech, Chairman Terry Gou said that as a businessman who has strived to make his fortune for decades, he was totally unaware of the thorniness of the issue of vagrant animals. He thought that the problem of vagrant animals stemmed from the animal philosophy which was primarily man-centered, which, coupled with the paradox of religious theories and the crises of birth control, resulted in the cruel extermination of animal life. He maintained that in the future the problem should be solved from four aspects: the fundamentals, system, administrative, and legislative. He also hoped that his donation would trigger off an interactive chain effect from all sectors of society.

  In his turn, Taipei County Magistrate Mr. Hsi-wei Chou praised Chairman Terry Gou's attention to the problem of vagrant animals, and the passion and unselfishness in his personal involvement. He said that in order to solve the problem of stray dogs, people should be reminded of their responsibilities to the dogs in their households. If they want to raise dogs, then they should bear the responsibility of taking care of them. He also thought that there should be certain degree of control in policy and in law enforcement with regard to animal safety. In conclusion, Magistrate Chou expected that in the future, Taipei County Government could cooperate smoothly with NTU and the Yon-ling Foundation to upgrade the standard of animal health care.