A group of animal rights advocates are to embark today on a 10-day nationwide bicycle tour to promote public awareness of the yellow-margined box turtle, whose numbers have rapidly declined because of poaching.
Seven bikers led by a conservation team of National Chung Hsing University researchers, along with a turtle mascot, are to depart from the Taipei Zoo today, with scheduled stops in Yilan, Hualien, Tainan, Taichung and New Taipei City to teach the public about the protected species.
Wu Sheng-hai (吳聲海), a biology professor at the university, said that the yellow-margined box turtle is generally found in low-altitude forests in subtropical regions and is the box turtle native to Taiwan. However, its population has decreased to one-fifth of its number a decade ago because of poaching.
Photo: Wu Cheng-ting, Taipei Times
Growing demand from China for the turtle, which is used in traditional medicine, has given rise to rampant poaching and smuggling, Wu said.
To date, authorities have seized more than 10,000 yellow-margined box turtles from smugglers, Wu said, adding that the number of confiscated yellow pond turtles, another protected species, has exceeded 5,800.
This year alone, authorities have intercepted more than 3,000 protected turtles, he said.
Wu said that current punishments for poaching and smuggling of protected animals are too lenient — usually entailing a fine of tens of thousands in New Taiwan dollars — but no one has ever been convicted of the crime in the past 10 years.
This, coupled with a diminishing government conservation fund, has made poaching a lucrative business and seen an increasing in the number of big smuggling syndicates, Wu said.
Although New Taipei City has established a conservation zone for the species at the Feitsui Reservoir (翡翠水庫), there is no known safe habitat for yellow-margined box turtles, as their preferred habitat overlaps with human activities, making them an easy target for poachers, he said.
Describing the government’s conservation effort as ineffective, Wu said that the bicycle tour is being held to teach people not to purchase or consume products made with protected animals.
When threatened, the turtle retracts its head, limbs and tail into its shell and bring its lower portion, the plastron, up to its carapace, inspiring the name box turtle, he said.
Typhoon Champi is forecast to turn northward earlier than previously expected, sparing Taiwan a direct hit but still bringing heavy rain to the north of the country on Friday and Saturday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Typhoon Champi had strengthened and increased in size over the past 12 hours, and as of yesterday afternoon, was packing sustained winds of 198kph near its center, CWA forecaster Cheng Chieh-jen (鄭傑仁) said. However, due to the weakening of a Pacific high-pressure system the storm is now expected to turn northward earlier than initially forecast, likely around Japan’s Ishigaki Island, Cheng said. As Champi brushes
A sea warning for Typhoon Champi might be issued tonight, while the storm’s trajectory would determine whether a land warning is to be issued tomorrow night, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, Champi was about 1,536km east-southeast of Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), packing maximum sustained winds of 198kph, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said. The storm was moving west-northwest at 23kph and was expected to strengthen over the next 24 hours before weakening slightly as it approaches cooler waters east of Taiwan, Tseng said. Champi is expected to turn north tomorrow, with the angle of the
DEFENSE PROCUREMENT: Taiwan could become the largest operator of V-BAT drones outside the US if the contract is finalized, the Ministry of National Defense said The navy and the coast guard reportedly plan to acquire 292 units of MQ-35A V-BAT vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) surveillance drones. If the contract is awarded and finalized, it would make Taiwan one of the largest buyers of the uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by the US-based defense technology company Shield AI. The Coast Guard Administration budgeted NT$1.2 billion (US$37.1 million) to buy 12 drones, which have been delivered, Shield AI said in a report on Oct 13. The navy is planning to spend NT$36 billion under a four-year program code-named Project Yuan Hsiao (遠鴞) to acquire 280 V-BAT drones,
A patrol vessel donated by the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) to the Philippines would not be used in waters near Taiwan or areas where Taiwanese fishing vessels operate, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. The vessel, formerly the CGA's 500-tonne-class Kinmen (金門), was commissioned into the Philippine Coast Guard on Oct. 2. Speaking at the Legislative Yuan, Cho said the Philippines had pledged during the donation process that the vessel would be used only for designated missions and would not operate in waters related to Taiwan. The vessel could even provide assistance to Taiwan if needed, he added. Responding to questions from Chinese
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