Cultivating Animal Protection Education in Taiwan: WDA Partners with Allies to Host the 2026 Animal Care Literature Award

WDA plans to listen to students' voices through a essay competition to understand how animal protection lessons in textbooks shape young minds regarding life and responsibility.

When elementary through high school students pick up their pens to write about their favorite animal protection stories in textbooks and begin discussing "companionship," "responsibility," and "life," the power of education is quietly taking effect. Jointly hosted by the World Dog Alliance (WDA) and the Life Conservationist Association (LCA), the "2026 Animal Care Literature Award" centers around the theme of responsible pet ownership, encouraging students to reflect on the relationship between humans, dogs, and cats through writing.

With a core mission of advocating for legislation to ban the consumption of dog and cat meat globally, the WDA understands that while laws serve as the final line of defense for animal protection and yield immediate results, education is what truly brings about long-term, subtle, and cultural transformation. Therefore, after Taiwan successfully passed legislation banning dog and cat meat in 2017, WDA continued its support to promote "incorporating animal protection into the curriculum," placing special emphasis on textbooks, which deeply shape every student's values.

Taiwan’s current 12-Year Basic Education system adopts a "one curriculum guideline, multiple textbook versions" model. While the Ministry of Education sets the general curriculum framework, publishers are free to compile learning materials independently. Consequently, the depth and presentation of animal protection, life education, and companion animal topics vary significantly across different textbook publishers. This makes the educational responsibility carried by these publishers all the more vital.

Given these institutional characteristics, WDA has consistently collaborated with the Life Conservationist Association in recent years. Moving beyond simple advocacy, WDA reviews the actual content of various textbook editions, meets with individual publishers to exchange feedback on text, illustrations, and case studies, and strives to align teaching materials with modern life education and animal welfare values. At the same time, WDA maintains regular communication with the National Academy for Educational Research, sharing front-line observations and suggestions to continually refine textbook content.

Different textbook versions in Taiwan feature a wide variety of animal stories, with significant differences in presentation style and depth.

The Life Conservationist Association previously reviewed a total of 418 volumes of textbooks under the 12-Year Basic Education system over two consecutive years. It analyzed the text, images, and course material related to animals and animal protection, hosted focus groups with experts, scholars, and front-line teachers, and put forward concrete recommendations for revision. The goal was to ensure that learning materials move beyond merely conveying animal facts to helping students build respect for life and a vision of harmonious coexistence between humans and animals.

This year, the WDA has decided to take another step forward. In addition to maintaining strong communication with publishers and educational authorities, WDA is intentionally gathering "the voices of students" to understand how they read, process, and respond to animal protection stories in their textbooks. By collecting student feedback and learning experiences, WDA aims to gain deeper insight into which topics truly spark meaningful reflection and where teaching materials can still be improved. This allows future discussions with publishers to incorporate authentic learner perspectives alongside expert recommendations.

WDA firmly believes that publishers are partners, not adversaries, in animal protection. Both share the common goal of nurturing a new generation that respects life. In recent years, many publishers have gradually incorporated concepts such as respect for life, responsible pet ownership, and ecological conservation, while revising older materials that no longer align with modern animal welfare values. These efforts deserve recognition, alongside continued feedback and support from the educational front line.

Social change through education does not happen overnight; it builds up page by page, lesson by lesson, essay by essay. When a student learns to respect life by reading a textbook story, or reflects on pet ownership by entering a writing competition, education has successfully planted the seeds of kindness toward animals.

WDA looks forward to continuing its collaboration with the National Academy for Educational Research, textbook publishers, educators, and civil society organizations. Together, we aim to bring more high-quality animal protection content into classrooms, guiding the next generation to establish grounded values so that respecting life and being kind to animals are not just words on a page, but a natural way of engaging with the world.

Some Taiwanese textbook publishers embrace a friendly, engaging approach, often commemorating in-person meetings with warm group photos.