EAST's awareness campaign caused such a commotion and had such an effect on the general public that the COA was finally forced to act.
"We were very concerned about the way in which slaughterhouses were being run," said the COA's Andrew Wang (
By law, all abattoirs must now first stun an animal with an electric prod and, when the animal is asleep, fire a single shot from a bolt gun into the beast's head. Slaughterhouses found to employ inhumane practices now face fines from NT$100 to NT$500,000. The COA also has the right to close operations of any slaughterhouse that openly or continually flouts the regulations.
The COA may be confident that it has eradicated inhumane practices of animal slaughter, but EAST is not convinced. Since it's campaign made headline news, the animal-rights group has been denied access to nearly all of the nation's slaughterhouses. And, according to the group, it is quite possible that 60 percent of pigs are still being killed inhumanely.
Local animal-rights groups may remain wary of how the government deals with laws pertaining to the rights of domestic and farm animals, but one area in which the NGOs and the government have successfully worked together is that of outlawing the capture and sale of indigenous wildlife, especially primates.
Until the late 1980s the sight of illegally imported orangutans and local primates was commonplace. But Taiwan's inclusion in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has reduced the once-widespread importation of endangered animals.
On a more local scale, the opening of the Pingtung Rescue Center for Endangered and Wild Animals in 1993 enabled authorities to place any illegally imported animal into proper care. Since its opening, the center has rescued more than 1,000 animals and now participates in educational exchange programs with institutes overseas.
"The media attention given to the CITES agreement and the opening of the Pintung Rescue Center have been pivotal in altering people's concepts of how we view and treat endangered animals," said Huang.
"Without them Taiwan would not have made such great inroads in the area of animal welfare," he said.
The sale and importation of primates may have successfully been stemmed, but the plight of the Formosan macaque has now taken center stage. While no longer critically endangered, the Formosan macaque remains, according to the World Conservation Union's (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Animals, at risk of extinction in the wild in the medium-term future. Every year dozens of them are killed or maimed by wire snares and poisons laid out by hunters.
"There is not and never has been a government regulation on the number of macaques that can be caught and moved, and if there was I'm sure the farmers would complain," said Lee Ling-ling (李玲玲) of the Department of Zoology at National Taiwan University (台灣大學動物學系). "Until some kind of legal framework can be settled upon, it's a no-win situation for everybody concerned," Lee added.
Once hunted solely for its bones, which were boiled down into a broth and drunk by young men who believed the concoction would give them everlasting virility, the trapping of macaques was outlawed in 1989. While it is illegal to slaughter macaques, even trespassing ones, farmers can apply for a permit to trap the primates. The unlicensed killing of a macaque is punishable with a lengthy prison sentence or a hefty fine or both, depending on the circumstances.
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