The Houli campus of the Taichung Animal Shelter has achieved yet another success by receiving the gold medal in the best management and maintenance category of the 2024 Taiwan Real Estate Excellence Award at the awards ceremony held on July 23. After being awarded the gold medal in the best planning & design category of the 2019 Taiwan Real Estate Excellence Award, the Houli campus also won the 2021 Yuan-Ye Award for best public building landscape design and the 2021 Chinese Architectural Golden Stone Award for best revitalization of a public infrastructure space. The Houli campus was designed to play the three core roles of education & awareness, adoption waystation, and leisure recreation, and has successfully demolished the stereotyped conventional image of a dirty, chaotic, noisy animal shelter.

   According to Director Chang Ching-chang of the Taichung City Government Agriculture Bureau, since its formal opening in 2021, the Houli campus has earned a reputation as Taiwan's most attractive animal shelter. Receiving the best management and maintenance award has provided welcome recognition to first-line shelter workers, and also underscores Mayor Lu's commitment to transforming Taichung into a pet-friendly city. In keeping with the vision of a fine future portrayed by the public art on the Houli campus, the award recognizes everyone's efforts to make Taichung an animal- and environmentally-friendly livable city.

   Health Inspection Office Director Lin Ru-liang thanked the Taiwan Real Estate Excellence Award judging committee for their affirmation and encouragement of the Taichung City Animal Protection and Health Inspection Office, and noted that the Office's goal is not to win awards, but to keep improving and maintaining positive momentum. Pledging to maintain its dedicated attitude, the Health Inspection Office is not just upgrading hardware at animal shelters, but also adopting management and maintenance software. This software has enabled the systematic management of animal acceptance procedures, optimization of adoption service procedures, and holding of online classes transmitting various important knowledge. Furthermore, the pairing of guided tours of the Houli shelter campus with nearby sightseeing attractions, the Health Inspection Office has effectively transmitted the animal welfare concept to all city residents. As a result, being a "responsible pet owner" is no longer just a slogan, but natural and expected behavior. Let's work together to make Taichung a truly animal-friendly city.