Clever Doggy 209 rescued

2007-02-05 10:02

Taipei - Taiwan animal lovers have captured a stray dog that for two years had posed a traffic hazard on a Taiwan expressway, but in the process they angered police who had failed for two years to catch the dog, news reports said on Monday.

It took ten members of the Animal Society of Taiwan six hours on Sunday to round up the dog and shoot an anaesthesia round into it, knocking it unconscious, several newspapers reported.

But after they removed the dog from Sun Yat-sen Expressway, a traffic police officer accused them of breaking traffic rules and threatened to fine them.

Traffic forced to screeching halt

"It is very dangerous for people to move on the SYS Expressway. Violators could face 3 000 to 6 000 Taiwan dollars (R656 to R1 313) fine," traffic police officer Hsiung Kuang-jung said.

For the last two years, the black dog - nicknamed Doggy 209 - has been living on the 30-centimetre-wide road divider at the 209km mark of the expressway.

Doggy 209's presence on the road divider had distracted drivers and forced traffic to a screeching halt when he occasionally jumped down from the divider.

Doggy 209 evaded 52 police operations

Surviving on scraps thrown to him by motorists, Doggy 209 evaded 52 police operations to capture him.

Many commentators joked that either the dog was too smart or police were too dumb.

Even some traffic officers said that Doggy 209 had shown high intelligence, distinguishing between ordinary cars and traffic police cars.

When a yellow traffic police car pulled up, Doggy 209 fled. When traffic police left food in a cage to trap it, it never went near the cage.

- SAPA