Dozens of stones were returned to the beach in eastern Taiwan that they had been taken from 10 years ago — by the person who gathered them.
A resident of Puzih (朴子), Chiayi County, who refused to give their name, mailed the rocks to the East Coast National Scenic Area Headquarters, saying in an accompanying letter that they had been attracted by the stones’ beauty during a visit to the beach in Sansiantai (三仙台) in Taitung County a decade ago.
A few years later, the person learned from a news report that collecting stones in Sansiantai was against the law and wanted to return them in person, but kept putting it off because they were too busy with work, the letter said.
It was only when the issue popped into the person’s mind again recently that the individual decided to send the stones back to the national scenic area administration, along with NT$600 in cash to apologize for the “mistake” they made 10 years ago, the letter said.
The administration made the letter public yesterday and took the colorful stones back to Sansiantai.
In the letter, the person also appealed to people not to succumb to greed and damage the beauty of nature and to cherish nature and appreciate the beautiful and exotic rocks on Taiwan’s east coast.
East Coast National Scenic Area Headquarters deputy director Lee Wei-ling (李維玲) said that Sansiantai’s scenic landscape was shaped by natural forces over tens of millions of years.
Tourists should not think that if they just remove a small stone or plant that the natural environment would not be damaged, the official said.
Each year, Sansiantai attracts more than 900,000 tourists, and “if each of them took one stone away, the beach would vanish in a few years,” Lee said.
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