Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Shyu Jong-shyoung (徐中雄) said yesterday he had initiated a proposed amendment to the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法) make posting pictures or video clips of animal abuse on the Internet a punishable crime.
The amendment says that anyone found to have distributed, aired or sold pictures or video footage of an abused animal would be liable for a jail term of up to one year or a maximum fine of NT$30,000.
People posting such images for academic purposes or public interest reasons, however, would not face punishment, the proposal states.
At present the Act stipulates that anyone found to have deliberately abused animals could be fined between NT$100,000 and NT$500,000, while repeat offenders could face one year in prison.
The law does not specify any punishment for people who upload photographs, images or footage of animal abuse to the Web.
A number of bloggers in Taiwan have uploaded video clips of a similar nature to their blogs or video-sharing social platforms such as the YouTube.
One recently posted pictures of a dog whose eye had been removed and pretended the dog had been abused in a bid to boost the number of visitors to his blog.
“[These people] distribute such a violent, intolerable culture through the Internet simply to satisfy their own desires,” Shyu said.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book
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