More than 1,000 students and visitors crowded the Taipei Zoo’s panda hall yesterday morning as zoo officials opened it for an hour to test capacity and animal viewing arrangements.
Zoo officials expect the two giant pandas to attract more than 6 million visitors in the first year, saying they will issue numbered slips to visitors at the panda hall to prevent them from waiting in long lines.
The zoo has installed slip machines at each of its eight entrances, and will limit visitors to just 10 minutes in the hall.
PHOTO: AP
“It was so crowded in the hall, and 10 minutes was not enough. I think things will get messier when the pandas arrive,” a visitor surnamed Chen said as she left the hall.
The Taipei City Government this week said that the two pandas would arrive in Taiwan on Tuesday and police would escort them from the airport to the zoo for a one-month quarantine period.
Taipei Zoo director Jason Yeh (葉傑生) said yesterday that the hall would be open from 9am to 5pm each day, and visitors who wish to see the pandas would be required to take a slip with a designated visiting time at the entrance. The hall can hold about 500 people, Yeh said.
The zoo will station 30 staff members to maintain order in the hall, and will install six 42-inch TV screens outside to provide live coverage of the pandas’ movements, he said.
The public is expected to be able to get its first glimpse of the pandas as early as Jan. 23, Lunar New Year’s eve.
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Yen Sheng-kuan (顏聖冠) urged the city government to wait until after Jan. 23 to open the hall because zoo staff would have to work extra shifts on the day their families reunite for Lunar New Year.
In related news, Tang Cheng-juei (唐呈瑞), director of the Kaohsiung City Scenic Area Administration, said on Wednesday that the city was preparing to import two white tigers from China to be placed in the Shoushan Zoo in June.
The rare animals are a gift from Guangzhou’s Xiangjiang Safari Park to promote friendship between the two cities, Tang said.
Additional reporting by CNA
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
Taiwan is to extend its visa-waiver program for Philippine passport holders for another year, starting on Aug. 1, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said on Friday. Lin made the announcement during a reception in Taipei marking the 127th anniversary of Philippine independence and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The decision reflected Taiwan’s commitment to deepening exchanges with the Philippines, the statement cited Lin as saying, adding that it was a key partner under the New Southbound Policy launched in 2016. Lin also expressed hope
Temperatures in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) climbed past 37°C yesterday, as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued heat alerts for 16 municipalities, warning the public of intense heat expected across Taiwan. The hottest location in Taiwan was in Sindian, where the mercury reached 37.5°C at about 2pm, according to CWA data. Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) recorded a temperature of 37.4°C at noon, Taitung County’s Jinfeng Township (金峰) at 12:50 pm logged a temperature of 37.4°C and Miaoli County’s Toufen Township (頭份) reached 36.7°C at 11:40am, the CWA said. The weather agency yesterday issued a yellow level information notice for Taipei, New
RSS