WDA's "Animal-Friendly Cities Index" Continues: Taiwan Holds Animal-Friendly City Ranking

WDA joined hands with legislators from Japan and Taiwan to announce "Animal Friendly Cities Index" in April 2019.

With the rise of global animal welfare awareness, urban governance should not be limited to human well-being but should also prioritize the friendliness of animal-friendly shared spaces. Based on this concept, the World Dog Alliance (WDA) launched the "Animal-Friendly Cities Index" research and evaluation in 2018, and officially announced the results in April 2019. Now, in 2026, the WDA, in collaboration with several animal welfare organizations in Taiwan, is launching the "Animal-Friendly Cities Assessment," hoping to drive an animal welfare trend during the year-end mayoral and councilor elections.

On April 11, 2019, the WDA, together with members of parliament from Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan, formed the "Asian Animal Friendly Alliance" and held its inaugural meeting in Taipei. The "Animal Friendly City Index Survey Research Report" was released for the first time, which greatly impressed animal rights activists from various countries and planted the seeds for a "sequel" in 2026.

The "Animal-Friendly Cities Index Survey Report" focuses on dogs and cats, the closest companion animals to humans. The four selected cities are Taipei and New Taipei City in Taiwan, and Kyoto and Fukuoka in Japan. The report measures the degree of animal friendliness of cities from the following four aspects:

• Laws and regulations: Does the city have clear animal protection laws and penalties?

• Administrative governance capacity: Whether local governments have established dedicated mechanisms and effectively implemented animal protection policies.

• Friendly facilities and services: such as animal-friendly parks, shelters and medical facilities, and the accessibility of public spaces.

• Civil society collaboration: the trend of cooperation and resource integration among animal protection groups, citizens and governments.

The release of this indicator not only provides cities with a reference framework for animal-friendly behavior, but also offers specific directions for improvement to policymakers and citizens. This report also symbolizes the initial realization of animal-friendly assessment moving from advocacy to concrete quantification, laying the foundation for subsequent related evaluations.

This poster from the Taipei City Animal Protection Office provides a clearer picture of how dog parks and pet parks are becoming more animal-friendly in the city.

In 2025, several animal protection organizations, including the World Canine Organization, the Animal Protection Administration, and animal protection associations, held 11 inter-organizational consultation meetings and finally finalized the "Animal-Friendly City Index Evaluation" mechanism, which covers 9 major issues and 37 indicators. At the beginning of 2026, a series of evaluation operations were launched. The scope of the index evaluation is not limited to cats and dogs, but includes a more comprehensive range of animal categories, including economic animals, laboratory animals, show animals, and wild animals.

The nine issues and 37 indicators were established with reference to the World Animal Protection Index (API) of the World Animal Protection Organization (WAP). The two core concepts are: first, to prevent animals from being harmed by humans (animal welfare), and second, to protect animal rights. The goal is to establish a transparent, comparable, and verifiable institutional framework to encourage local governments to fulfill their animal protection responsibilities and to help the public understand that animal-friendly practices are not just empty slogans, but a measurable and institutionally supported governance framework.

The nine major issues are: formal legal recognition of animals' sentient beings; laws prohibiting animal suffering due to intentional abuse or neglect; laws applicable to farm animals (raising, transporting, and slaughtering); laws applicable to captive animals; laws applicable to companion animals; laws applicable to working and recreational animals; laws applicable to experimental animals; laws applicable to wild animals; and the government assuming responsibility for animal protection and providing resources.

The 37 indicators comprehensively examine a city's animal-friendly status from the perspectives of education, information transparency, the formulation of self-governance ordinances, shelter and management, public-private cooperation, and inter-departmental coordination.

From the Animal-Friendly Cities Index in 2019 to the Animal-Friendly Cities Ranking in 2026, the animal protection movement is maturing, elevating this single issue to a crucial indicator for evaluating urban governance. This evaluation mechanism not only promotes local policy improvements but also reflects whether a city truly considers the dignity and harmonious coexistence of all life within its walls. We can expect that with the promotion of the Animal-Friendly Cities Ranking, not only will the animal situation improve, but new civilized connotations will also be injected into the overall quality of urban life.