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Online campaign to choose a national bird launched

Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng, second right, Minister of the Interior Lee Yi-yang, center, and others hold up some of the options for national bird at a press conference yesterday to launch a campaign promoting the nationwide poll that will make the final decision. PHOTO: CNA

A campaign to select a national bird by a nationwide poll officially kicked off in Taipei yesterday.

"Many countries have their own national birds," said Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇), president of the campaign's sponsor, Taiwan Sustainable Ecological Society (TSES).

"For instance, the US has selected the bald eagle as its national bird," she said.

"With such a diverse ecology, it's a shame that we don't have a national bird," added Tien, who is also a Democratic Progressive Party legislator.

"The result of the poll will be confirmed by the legislature and become official," she said.

The campaign launch yesterday was also supported by several Cabinet ministries and various private businesses.

The organization is inviting everyone, especially children and young people, to participate in an online poll to choose a national bird for Taiwan.

The campaign, called the "Taiwan national bird election," has so far received 40,000 votes in early polling that began three days ago, the group said.

Online voting will run until the end of March.

"There are 15 rare species of bird that only exist in Taiwan which are very attractive to ecological tourists," said Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) at the launch yesterday.

"Selecting a national bird may help the government's plan to double the number of tourists," he said.

Among the 15, the candidate birds are the Swinhoe's pheasant, the Formosan magpie, the Taiwan tit and the Mikado pheasant.

Wang, who was asked to cast the first ballot, voted for the Mikado pheasant.

"In the higher mountains, you can see Mikado pheasants walking sturdily and mightily, yet peacefully and relaxed out of the morning mist. It looks just like an emperor," Wang said, explaining his choice.

"It's similar to how Taiwan can be a leader in many areas," Wang said.

Wang said that the national bird should "represent the spirit and character of Taiwan."

"This is a soft display of national sovereignty," Tien said later, explaining the underlying aim of the campaign.

"Through the campaign we hope that children will learn more about, and be better able to relate to the land where they were born and raised," she added.

"The selection of a national bird will also promote national solidarity," Tien said, "such as when the bald eagle was endangered in the US and the entire nation stood united to save its national symbol."

Bald eagles were listed as endangered in 43 US states, but after conservation efforts were removed from the endangered species list in 1995, the US Fish and Wildlife Service said.

"After all, it will be good for the parliament of Taiwan to work on something beautiful together," Tien said.
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