A green sea turtle was found floating in the ocean severely wounded, apparently from injuries inflicted by three metal tags that had been riveted to its shell, National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium officials said.
The Coast Guard Administration’s Southern Coastal Patrol Office, which rescued the turtle on Monday last week, said that the tags had “Family prosperity” inscribed on them and had been intended to bring good luck to the 13 people whose names they bore.
As the tags rubbed against the turtle’s skin, its hind legs had become ulcerated and swollen, veterinarians said, adding that if the coastal patrol had not discovered the turtle it might have developed a bacterial infection and died.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
The patrol office who rescued the turtle said a fishing-boat captain surnamed Pai (白) informed them about the turtle, which had been seen floating in the sea.
The patrol office quickly netted the turtle and put it in a bucket of water, concerned that it might be hit by fishing boats.
Museum veterinarian Lee Tsung-hsien (李宗賢) said the turtle was in a decrepit state when it was discovered, and its excrement contained scraps of plastic bags and was swarming with parasites.
The turtle is being cared for by the museum and is showing stable vital signs, he said, adding that it would be released into the wild after an assessment of its health.
The museum called on people not to release animals in this way, saying it only brings harm, adding that hanging sharp objects on turtles hinders their movement and might kill them.
It added that sea turtles that consume trash might appear to be unaffected but could die suddenly from obstructions to their digestive tract.
People should not attempt to rescue sea turtles and release them; instead, they should call 118 and leave the task to local animal protection agencies, the museum said.
The green sea turtle is classified as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species, with a 2004 study published by the organization saying that the annual number of nesting females worldwide had declined by between 48 and 67 percent in the past three generations.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
NUMBERs IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
RSS