We rescue and care for the stray animals of northern Taiwan who have nowhere else to turn—most of them maimed by illegal snares.
StrayKind is a UK registered charity running a 24-hour emergency rescue service, three no-kill sanctuaries, and a rehoming programme for the dogs and cats who can go on to family life. Most of the animals who reach us have been caught in illegal wire snares. Many arrive having already lost a limb. We treat them, we keep them, and we do not turn away the ones nobody else will take.
You may know us as Animal Care Trust. That is the same charity—we changed our name to StrayKind in October 2025. Our history is below.
Figures as at 2026-09-04. Of those in our care, 427 live at our three sanctuaries, 28 are in foster homes, 17 are on trial adoption and 4 are receiving veterinary treatment.
Six things, all of them year-round.
Our rescue line answers at any hour. When a snared or injured animal is reported, someone goes.
The best treatment available in Taiwan, for as long as it takes—including amputation, rehabilitation and lifelong care for animals who will never fully recover.
Three sanctuaries in northern Taiwan for dogs and cats, including those too injured, too old or too frightened to be rehomed. They stay for life.
Careful, unhurried matching. We would rather a dog waited than went to the wrong home.
We feed a raw diet across all our sites because we have seen what it does for animals recovering from serious injury and long neglect.
Snares are illegal in Taiwan. We work with the authorities to bring the people who set them to prosecution.
Across Taiwan’s mountains and farmland, illegal wire snares lie hidden. When an animal steps into one, the wire tightens with every struggle, and without rescue they face days of agony before they lose the foot—or worse. Snares are banned, but poachers still make and buy them, and the animals pay for it.
Read more about snares and the animals we have brought home →
Taiwan is one of the most densely populated places on earth, and almost nowhere is far from somebody’s house. That makes land for animal sanctuaries both scarce and extraordinarily expensive.
Taiwan: NT$48.8m per hectare, Public Television Service, citing compiled domestic and international data. United Kingdom: Strutt & Parker, 2025. Converted at the 2025 average rate of NT$41.07 to the pound.
We could buy land. We choose not to. Spending that much donated money on a title deed would not be the best use of it—the same money treats and feeds animals for years. So we rent, and we build our sanctuaries on rented ground.
The cost of that choice is impermanence. A landlord can sell, or decide not to renew, and a site we have spent years building has to be rebuilt somewhere else. We have created twelve sanctuaries over the years to arrive at the three we run today.
We are dedicated to alleviating the suffering and elevating the welfare of animals throughout Taiwan.
We envision Taiwan becoming a leader in Asia for the humane treatment of all animals.
We believe in putting the animal first whenever possible, and springing into urgent action whenever needed.
We believe in never turning a blind eye when an animal is suffering.
StrayKind has had three names. It was founded in October 2014 as People for Animal Care and Kindness, registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales in 2015, renamed Animal Care Trust in 2017–18, and became StrayKind on 2025-10-11. The charity number has never changed: 1163828.
We changed the name twice, and both times for a plain reason. In 2017 we left the Taiwan PACK association and did not want continuing confusion between the two organisations. In 2025 the Royal Veterinary College wrote to let us know they had trademarked the ACT acronym—and we were glad of the nudge towards a name that is more distinctly ours.
For most of that time the UK charity worked alongside a separate Taiwan non-profit that Sean co-founded, ACT for Animals. Those two organisations have since been brought together, and StrayKind now operates directly in Taiwan through its own registered Taiwanese association, 社團法人台灣愛克特動物重生救援協會.
Nothing about the work changed. The same sanctuaries, the same rescue line, the same animals.
A first taste of animal rescue while living in Key West, under the tutelage of director Becky Arnold.
A young puppy found unconscious at the side of the road, covered in mange.
A chance meeting inspires Sean to create an organisation because, as she puts it, together we can make a difference.
The inaugural steering-committee meeting is held at Grandma Nitti’s restaurant, ShiDa, Taipei City.
After Sean’s home is inundated with rescues, a rescue centre is built at ShiLin, outside Taipei City.
Recognising the need for education, investigation, legislation and campaigning to tackle animal issues at the root.
Created to provide a permanent home for unadoptable animals; several name changes later it becomes The PACK Sanctuary.
1.5 acres of land providing a home to unadoptable dogs, cats and pigs.
Rescued from a kill pound grossly undernourished and riddled with mange, Tiny’s transformation makes him an online dog-show champion.
A new site is secured and built to house the growing sanctuary’s dogs and pigs.
The UK charity is founded to fundraise globally in support of the work in Taiwan, and registered with the Charity Commission in 2015.
A large, peaceful site becomes a retirement home for older dogs, and later a shady garden for the pigs.
3.5 acres of agricultural land with no neighbours, built out with kennels and gardens as a permanent home for the dogs.
A large house is converted into a rescue and rehoming centre for stray cats.
A new Taiwan organisation, and the beginning of the name that would carry the work for the next eight years.
The former Taiwan association remains in different hands and retains the PACK name.
Land once intended for a pig farm is transformed into kennels and gardens for the dogs coming into our care.
Registered 2018-09-10, registrant ID 22610.
A house near the sanctuaries is converted into a rescue and rehoming centre for cats.
With rescues far outnumbering adoptions, a small site is turned into 12 gardens for newly rescued dogs.
Land across the lane from The ARK becomes available and is turned into ARK III.
A 3.3-acre former tree farm with a pond and building is secured, and The deN is rebuilt there.
After an organised campaign of complaints from neighbours, The ARK and ARK III are given up. A new and larger site is built between March and July 2024, and the dogs from both are brought together there.
The register was updated on 2025-10-11. The charity number is unchanged.
Founder
English, and in Taiwan since 1999. Sean has worked to prevent animal suffering here for more than twenty-five years, and has founded four animal welfare organisations in Taiwan and the UK.
Co-founder
Judy is the legal representative of StrayKind’s Taiwanese association and runs our operations on the ground in Taiwan.
StrayKind is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales, no. 1163828, registered in 2015 under the previous name Animal Care Trust. We have been registered with the Fundraising Regulator since 2018-09-10 and we follow the Code of Fundraising Practice and the Fundraising Promise.
StrayKind, c/o Axis Cloud Accounting, The Marlowe Innovation Centre, Marlowe Way, Ramsgate, Kent CT12 6FA
Our work on the ground is carried out by our registered Taiwanese association, 社團法人台灣愛克特動物重生救援協會. It is registered with Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior and holds a public fundraising permit issued by the New Taipei City Government.
We have been able to do this much for Taiwan’s suffering animals because kind people joined the mission along the way. Fostering, adopting, giving a little time or skill or money—it is you that makes it possible. Please consider joining us.
