Sketch of Archilife Study Tour, January 2018
2018年1月份見識之旅縮影 ![]() For the study tour of January 6, 2018, Ms. Lu Ming-yun led five ARF interns on a tour to NPUST to learn about wildlife and working dogs. At the start of the day's activities, team leader Ms. Lu Ming-yun reminded everyone about things to note and what to observe, and provided the interns some general background knowledge. ![]() The focus of this study tour was the NPUST campus. The first stop visited was the Pingtung Rescue Center where everyone had to wear a mask to prevent the possibility of contacting zoonotic diseases. The volunteer guide explained that the rescued wild animals had been victims of wildlife trafficking, illegal breeding, pet abandonment or cruel treatment. They are kept at the rescue center as their health and state of mind do not allow them to be released into the wild or be sent to animal shelters with better resources despite proper care by the rescue center. Due to insufficient space, the rescue center usually places animals of compatible temperament in the same cage and tries to maintain a living environment similar to their habitat. For instance, ducks are kept in the monkey enclosure. Not only do they keep each other company but the ducks eat up food that the monkeys drop while hanging from the trees. Ducks also eat snails on the ground to keep the ground clean and reduce the monkeys' risk of falling sick from parasites on the snails. After listening to anecdotes of animals at the rescue center, the message that "when the buying stops, the killing can too" becomes ingrained in everyone's mind. ![]() After lunch, everyone visited the Exhibition Hall of Agricultural Implements. The volunteer guide began by showing everyone the ox-drawn cart used in early agricultural society, encouraging everyone to think about how farmers carry out their farm work before the advent of automated equipment. Then the guide introduced the traditional farm equipment, and let interns operate some of the displayed equipment to understand the hardship and difficulty of farm work. Next, the guide described the farm life in early Taiwan by pointing to a recreated setting on display. She explained how seats in the main hall are arranged according to seniority. The final part of the tour brought everyone to the working dogs training center. The guide began by explaining the meaning of working dogs, and that they are divided into assistance dogs that assist humans in everyday life and detection dogs that use their acute sense of smell. The former include guide dog, hearing dog while the latter refer to drug dog and brown root rot disease detection dog. This was followed by a demonstration of how a working dog detects brown root rot disease and how a hearing dog assists hearing impaired people respond to surrounding sound changes in their everyday living. Everyone observed the benefits that working dogs bring to people and the living environment. At this point, the day's itinerary came to an end. Everyone returned to home after taking a group photo and looked forward to the next study tour. |