Dog in public hot spring (article in TT)

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2003/11/24/2003077078
Article in TT about woman who takes her dog into a public hotspring. Another bather protests, then the dog owner says her dog is cleaner than the other woman’s son. Offended woman calls police and dog owner is arrested for slander.

Couple of questions:

  1. Why didn’t the people who run the hot spring kick the woman and her dog out in the first place?

  2. Can you be arrested for slander right there and then? I would have thought that would be a civil case.

Yea, bizarre story and bizarre case. If the VCD case hasn’t shaken your faith in the right of free speech in Taiwan how about this case – arrested for saying that her dog is cleaner than the other lady’s son.

This should go in the TT’s Sunday feature on “News of the Weird.” What kind of person would call the police over such a comment? And what kind of prosecutor would decide to press charges?

Truly bizarre.

The 2 people involved live in the same appartment block, So maybe they have had other arguments ?
Yes, Libel and Slander are criminal offenses here. Editors have gone to prision for stuff they printed. But saying “Your son is dirty” in a private place ? :unamused: Like I said, maybe these two have a history.

Because nobody cares.

Well, the fact is that the hot springs here in Taiwan are dirty, or at least look unappealing - brown and muddy. I’m spoiled because we have real hot springs back home with crisp, clear, clean water that you can not only bathe in but take a sip right from the stream and drink. I hate to sound like a snob but it’s like comparing the beaches in Penghu to the beaches in Kaohsiung - the former are great and you can swim in them, the latter are a polluted eyesore I certainly wouldn’t dip my toes in.

Anybody who brings a dog into a public bath deserves to be arrested for that alone.

For the record, I don’t want to have dogs bathing with me, and I stay away from hot springs that aren’t at the end of a long hike into the mountains.

I am intrigued by the particulars of this case.

Perhaps the dog is cleaner than the woman’s son, or vice versa. How would a lawyer argue this? What measure of cleanliness could apply to both dogs and humans? Is it slander if it turns out the dog is cleaner than the son?

Lawyers? Dog people? Forensic scientists? Comments?

Perhaps the dog wasn

I’d prefer not to share a hot spring bath with any person or animal except an attractive young woman. But if I had to have something else in there with me, I’d rather it were your average mange-free and well-cared-for pet dog than your typical obnoxious little Taiwanese male brat.

And taking up what Street Dog mentioned about the shitting, when I have checked out the free open-air hot springs at Wulai in the past, I have seen human shit among the rocks around them in many places. It’s almost enough to make me lose my lunch just to write about it here. I wouldn’t dream of putting so much as a toe in that water.