HUMANEHUMANEHUMANEHUMANEHUMANEHUMANE

9A Elissa Lee, Doris Lin, and Kimi Chen

When thinking of the dogs behind the tennis courts, many people would automatically think ‘stinky’ or ‘too much barking’. It is not surprising that many members of the Humane Society agree, but “once you get to know them, they’re actually quite fun to walk” one anonymous student notes. Another member remarks that “some are big and scary, some are cute and nice. They’re just like humans, really.” Still another, Yueting Cheng of 8B in the Bilingual Dept comments that “[the dogs] are so cute, I don’t see why people don’t want them anymore.”

Because of the club members’ passion for change from the dogs’ poor conditions, we have participated in a lot of activities so that we can let everybody know our thoughts and goals. In order to spread more of our thoughts and views to the other people in Hsinchu, we entered 新竹市97年青年志工嘉年華, which is a meeting formed with various high school service clubs. We received the recognition award from 青年志工嘉年華會, and also performed there in the talent show. In the process of this activity, we have learned a lot more about how to express our feelings to the others. Seeing the clubs that participated in this activity, we realize that we still have a long way to go. 

What does the Humane Society do, besides attend service club projects and enter talent shows? Humane meets up two times a week, once to hold meetings, the other to spend time with the thirty dogs that currently reside in our school. We hold meetings discussing the welfare of these dogs, and all things related, such as fundraisers and education. Dog-walking takes place every Wednesday – the members congregate together to take the dogs out to stretch their legs, or wash their reeking fur in the summer.

So we walk dogs every Wednesday after school. You might have seen us, with the dogs, running around or walking around the basketball court or the field. Even though we get our clothes dirty or stinky, we don't care. We have fun with the dogs, and the dogs get great exercise out of a good run, too. Also, most importantly, we give the dogs the love and care that they need, and that we have in abundance. That’s what we do. We help and love these animals and giving them care and love that they deserve. Humane Society is the club where we respect and love every kind of animal, and believe that human beings should protect them.

Our school's just retired nurse, Ms. Hui-fang Liang who has been taking care of the dogs’ every need and care, whole-heartedly agrees. She says that after her long-term illness, she realizes how vulnerable life is, and how many dogs’ lives are not respected and thought about. The dogs she cares for have all gone through rough times – lethal diseases, harsh abuse, car accidents, or have simply been ditched because they’re too old, too young, too ugly, or too ill-behaved. But the nurse strongly believes that every life is worth keeping, every life deserves respect and love, no matter what race or what species you are.

In an attempt to let everyone understand this club, the Humane Society has decided to do a Christmas Sale to raise money for our school dogs. We hope to spread the love and awareness of the Humane Society-and those that we take care of- with this Christmas Bake Sale. Along with this activity, we hope that people will learn more about the club itself, and why we work so hard to help and nurture the dogs.

You might not know how Humane started; you might not know when it started. To many of us, it seems like Humane has been here since the start of the Bilingual Department. Although that is untrue, it may as well have been founded with the school. It is a fundamental part of our school- every student knows of the dogs.

      Humane was founded by a sophomore named Audrey Liu in 1995. A transfer from the States, she found it hard to adapt to this school. However, in the middle of her sophomore year, she discovered the school dogs which, at that time, had no pen. She and several other students put time and effort into fundraising money to build them their pen and to take care of the dogs. As time wore on, she discovered that her dislike for the Bilingual Department had faded, and she looked forward to each new day at school.

      Although she has graduated, she left her legacy within the school. Throughout the past ten years, the Humane Society has taken care of the school dogs diligently with love and care. As each president of the club graduated, year after year, they passed down from them the love and respect they felt and learned from taking care of the dogs. They passed the feelings and emotions to the younger students who would later take up the mantle of responsibility for this club. A wise quote from the former supervisor of the Humane Society sums it all up, “We feel good about what we do in Humane. Therefore, we need to pass it down, so that the people who come after us can also go through this learning and valuable experience.”

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