Bird-watchers have criticized the Taroko National Park Administrative Office’s decision to seal up a naturally formed hole in a Formosan Michelia tree in the Bruwan Plateau and said the office’s decision was not only going against nature, but was also targeting bird-watchers.
One of the bird-watchers, surnamed Chang (張), said he noticed the tree hole filled up with dirt on Monday.
The hole was used by birds as a natural bathing spot, Chang said, while denying that bird-watchers ever put any mealworms in the hole to lure the birds to the hole.
Photo: Yu Tai-lang, Taipei Times
Instead, they would only add some water when the water level was low, Chang said, adding that he could not comprehend why the office would seal the hole.
It is not as if the birds taking a bath were harming anyone, Chang said.
Office Deputy Director-General Chang Teng-wen (張登文) said the office had found multiple bird-watchers placing mealworms into the hole and luring the birds into the hole with artificially produced bird sounds, adding that the dead mealworms within the tree hole were producing a bad odor and affecting people’s enjoyment of the natural scenery of the Bruwan Plateau.
The office asked the Bruwan observation post to confirm the findings before sealing up the hole, Chang Teng-wen said.
We decided to seal up the hole until further notice after failing to communicate with bird-watchers and tourists, Chang said, adding that the measure is temporary.
Another bird-watcher, surnamed Chen (陳), said the hole had existed for a long time and was discovered in January.
The administrative office seems to think bird-watchers are responsible for the number of birds in the tree hole, but the birds were visiting the hole naturally, Chen said, adding that sealing up the hole went against nature.
Meanwhile, Chang said the plateau would not place limits on bird watchers and would continue to allow them to bird-watch, but that the office hoped that the bird-watchers would respect and cherish the habitats of birds.
We hope that bird-watchers and photography enthusiasts will refrain from drawing the attention of birds in an artificial manner to capture photographs, Chang said, adding that bird-watchers should seek to discipline themselves.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods