A 60m long overpass furnished with cat stands and cat furniture is to be unveiled on March 30 in the Houtong (猴硐) area of New Taipei City’s (新北市) Ruifang District (瑞芳), where the presence of a large cat population has been a big tourist draw in recent years.
The town used to be one of the country’s largest coalmining sites, but it is now focused on its other natural resource: stray cats.
Over the years, the town has become home to an estimated 100 cats.
As Houtong is currently being renovated, city officials said it was a good opportunity to install cat-friendly facilities.
“We must take the cats’ needs into consideration because they have become an important part of the town,” city official Chen Ching-fang said.
She added that she hoped the bridge will reflect the harmonious coexistence of the town’s residents and the cats, as well as promote animal protection.
The overpass cost NT$18 million (US$602,600) and took eight months to build. It is expected to not only benefit cats, but also attract cat-lovers, Chen said.
The cats will be able to walk, relax and interact with pedestrians on the overpass.
Since 2009, Houtong has been nicknamed “Cat Town” after news was published about its large cat population.
The town attracts many tourists, especially on weekends, Chen said.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over
RSS