Following the recent death of a beluga whale at the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, which spurred widespread condemnation among animal protection groups, Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) yesterday said he had issued an ordinance prohibiting the museum from importing protected marine species until a proper system for looking after the animals’ welfare has been established.
Museum veterinarian Lee Tsung-hsien (李宗賢) said that the 13-year old beluga whale, named Blue, had not eaten since Sept. 24 and also exhibited other odd repetitive behaviors, including keeping its distance from the pool walls and swimming in circles.
A blood test found that the whale had a high white blood cell count. The condition of the whale deteriorated on Monday evening and after antibiotic treatment failed, the animal died at 9:05pm on Tuesday, Lee said.
The preliminary results of an autopsy on Wednesday found that the whale had died of acute septicemia, with an accumulation of pus in its lungs and stomach.
Wu yesterday ordered the museum not to import any more beluga whales or whale sharks until measures ensuring the welfare of animals were in place, saying that he would order personnel from the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) Department of Lifelong Education to study how other countries provide care for these animals.
He would listen to the arguments of animal rights advocacy groups, he said.
Department of Lifelong Education Deputy Head Lee Yu-chuan (李毓娟) said that despite issuing the ordinance, the ministry deems that the museum and Hi-Scene World Enterprises Co Ltd, which was responsible for the procurement of 10 beluga whales, to have taken good care of the cetaceans because the two entities have retained the autopsy reports of each of the seven belugas which have died from 2002 to date.
However, Environmental and Animal Society of Taiwan director Chen Yu-min (陳玉敏) dismissed the assertion describing what she said were “appalling living conditions” at the museum.
She said that two of the six belugas procured by the company in 2002 died upon arriving in Taiwan, followed by another four which died in 2008 and 2009. Conditions at the aquarium have adverse effects on the animals’ immune systems, as a number of belugas were found to have died from bacterial infections, she said.
Beluga whales live for an average of 35 years in the wild, while those kept in captivity live for an average of about 20 years, she said, calling for a third-party agency to be established to monitor the cetaceans’ living environment, to prevent the lives of the remaining three whales from also being at risk.
The 25-year buy-operate-transfer (BOT) contract struck between Hi-Scene and the museum helped the company rake in NT$800 million (US$26.27 million) last year alone, but the premium the company pays to the museum has been decreasing, and stood at about NT$25 million last year, she said.
She urged a thorough examination of the BOT contract to ensure that a sufficient budget is allocated for the welfare of beluga whales.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard