In light of the large numbers of birdwatchers swarming to Linnei Mountain (林內山) in Yunlin County to see the endangered fairy pitta, the Wild Bird Society of Yunlin yesterday said it would hire security guards to protect the birds’ habitats from human disturbance.
Due to the destruction of its natural habitat and excessive hunting, the migratory bird has become vulnerable to extinction, the society said.
As fairy pitta build their nests on the mountain between May and July every year, bird lovers from around the world flock to the mountain during the period to capture the birds on film, the society said.
Photo courtesy of the Wild Bird Society of Yunlin
Of all the birdwatching spots on the mountain, the Longguomai hiking trail, where fairy pitta sightings peak, is the most popular among photographers, it said.
To get the best view of the birds, some photographers have played the sound of birds humming, used worms to entice them and removed plants, disrupting the birds’ natural habits and destroying their habitat, it said.
Some people went as far as to steal hatchlings, it added.
Photo courtesy of the Wild Bird Society of Yunlin
Society director Chen Hsueh-chin (陳雪琴) said that to prevent similar incidents, the society’s director-general Chang Tzu-chien (張子見) launched a campaign to raise funds to hire two security guards.
The guards are to work in shifts to protect the birds around the clock, Chen said.
Their responsibilities include stopping people who try to use the fairy pittas’ humming to entice the birds or attempt to breach security nets set up around the birds’ habitats, she said.
They would also be in charge of contacting central and local government agencies tasked with protecting the birds if necessary, she said.
Chen said that the society would need to add about NT$90,000 to its payroll.
Chang said that he would coordinate with other agencies in funding the program, and that he would continue to support the program next year even if the authorities decide not to participate.
Chen Chin-tsun (陳清圳), former director-general of the association, urged the public to refrain from behavior that might disturb or hurt the birds.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater