The bottom line is education about the pros and cons of owning a pet. The financial side is what prospective owners forget. Medical services are not cheap. Neutering and spaying is a must and must be enforced by veterinarians unless the owner is a breeder. Tell would-be owners to pick up and read a book about whether they are qualified to be a pet owner before they become one. Encourage people to acquire pets from the shelter. These animals are just as wonderful as any other pets.
Sita Djaka-Kozel
Tienmu
Access to national parks
Reading David Frazier's article ("No tourists allowed," Nov. 12, page 11) the first thing that came to my mind was that this wasn't something surprising at all.
If you like mountain climbing, you will quickly discover all the red tape surrounding hiking and climbing in Taiwan. If you are climbing above 3,000m you will need first to register with the police, which is not an easy task.
If you go to Hohuanshan (合歡山), you will discover that the main peak is enclosed in barbed wired fence because it belongs to Chunghwa Telecom (中華電信). A fallen down sign advises you -- on behalf of Chunghwa and the Taroko National Park Police (太魯閣國家公園警察隊) -- not to enter. Inside and outside the fence the peak is a forest of new and old telecommunications facilities, military buildings, machinery, water and oil tanks, among other things.
We climbers like to go to the real thing. To us, 10m away from the summit is not the summit. Since the real peak is inside the barbed wired section, they try to keep us happy with a fake one. Just outside the door of the "forbidden area" is another landmark signaling Mount Hohuanshan main peak and its actual height 3,416m. The Taiwanese I met felt ashamed.
Garbage is everywhere in Hohuanshan and in Tayulin (大禹嶺), 8km down, although both are inside Taroko National Park. The pressure level in the Hohuanshan area (a very frail and sensitive high-altitude ecosystem) is becoming increasingly unbearable because of human settlement, poorly designed infrastructure and inadequate garbage management.
Perhaps park authorities are not really concerned about all this. If so, then what on earth are they concerned about? I am a foreigner. It is neither my work nor any other direct responsibility that makes me concerned. And yet I am.
Francisco Carin Garcia
Shulin
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