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.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
RSS