A group launched a search yesterday in a mountainous area in Linkou Township (
County police received a report the previous day from a goat farmer in Linkou, who said that earlier that day that 10 of his 100 goats had been mauled to death by "some large feline."
An Indonesian worker who told police she had witnessed the attack said she had just entered a sheep pen to feed the animals when "a big animal" roared at her, whereupon she fell down the stairs.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The worker fled the scene and immediately awakened the farm owner, Huang Jung-ko (
Huang told reporters his employee said the creature was definitely a big tiger and that she could not believe Taiwan still had wild tigers.
Huang checked the pen and found that eight sheep had been slaughtered. Two others had been devoured, with only parts of their skeletons and some organs left.
This was a horrible bloodbath, Huang said.
Animal experts from Taipei Zoo and the Taipei County Government's Bureau of Agriculture examined the site on Friday and found a clear animal footprint.
Chang Chih-hua (張志華), chief veterinarian at Taipei Zoo's Animal Medical Center, told reporters yesterday that "the footprint belongs to a canine, not a feline, which means that the animal that attacked the sheep is likely a big dog."
Chang said that based on the tooth marks found on the carcasses, the animal has a wide mouth.
Referring to the witness' claim that the creature had roared at her, Chang said that tigers and leopards roar at human beings when they encounter them.
Taipei County Commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (
County officials said they hoped to catch the animal alive and were equipped with a cage, tranquillizer guns, blowpipes and flashlights.
At press time, the creature was still at large.
Residents nearby, meanwhile, were terrified.
A resident surnamed Huang told reporters the authorities had to find the animal or they would not venture outside their houses.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
RSS