Taiwan makes it illegal for animal shelters to put down animals following tragic case of a vet who committed suicide after being asked to kill so many unwanted pets 

• e-mail

Euthanising animals in shelters has been banned in Taiwan - nearly a year after a vet took her life after becoming distraught about the number of dogs she had to kill. 

Jian Zhicheng was described as a 'butcher with beauty' and inundated with threatening messages after it emerged that she had euthanised more than 700 pets in two years.

Jian, who was 31 when she died in May last year,  strived to rehome dogs, but had often had to put them down because there wasn't space for them in the state-run facilty where she worked.

Animal lover: Jian was described as kind and caring by colleagues, and she was distraught at the number of dogs she had to put down

Sad story: She was a target for animal rights activists, but campaign group PETA said she had been forced to do society's 'dirty work'

She revealed the number of dogs she had been forced to euthanise during a news bulletin.  

The revelation made her a target for animal rights activists, and colleagues said she became upset at the criticism directed at her.

Taiwan's ban came into effect on Saturday, two years after it was passed by parliament, having given shelters time to prepare.

Jian's death sparked calls for authorities to improve conditions for animals and staff at shelters.

A protester holds a picture of dead dogs during a demonstration in front of the Taiwan government's agriculture council, in Taipei, in 2013

Following her suicide last year, a member of staff from the Office of Animal Care and Control in Taoyuan confirmed to MailOnline that Jian used to work as the director at the Xinwu Animal Protection and Education centre.

They told MailOnline: 'Public animal shelters are allowed to carry out mercy killings when they are running out of space, according to Taiwanese law. 

'Since this is an animal shelter, it cannot refuse to take in stray animals, when there are more coming in than leaving, and in order to maintain the standard of the living quality of animals here, this is allowed.' 

Elisa Allen, Associate Director of animal rights group PETA, told MailOnline: 'The reality is that there are simply not enough homes to go around for the millions of unwanted animals who are euthanised every year. 

'It's left to shelter workers like Jian Zhicheng, who love animals so much, to do society's dirty work because so many people fail to do the one thing that could alleviate the animal overpopulation crisis: spraying and neutering animals.

'We offer our deepest condolences to Jian's family and urge all compassionate people to spay and neuter as well as always adopting companion animals from a shelter, rather than buying from a breeder.'

She appeared in a news broadcast where she revealed she had to put animals to sleep

Animal welfare group, Life Conservationist Association, estimated more than 1.2 million animals not adopted from shelters have been put down since 1999.

'Animal protection in Taiwan has moved towards a new milestone,' the association's executive director Ho Tsung-hsun said in a statement.

But Taiwan's Council of Agriculture warned the ban would lead to a deterioration in the quality of shelters through a surging intake or it may discourage the capture of strays.

"It's impossible for there to be no problems," said Wang Chung-shu, deputy chief of the animal husbandry department, according to The China Times.

He said Taiwan's ban was "quite idealised", adding that manpower was a problem because the vet's suicide had had a "chilling effect" on the sector, according to the report.

Even before the legislation, the number of animals being put down had been steadily declining.

Last year, 12.38 percent of the 64,276 animals in public shelters were euthanised, according to official statistics.

That compares with 94,741 animals in shelters in 2014, of which 26.45 percent were put down.