A seventh whale has washed up on the shores of Hualien County in under a month, prompting marine experts to conduct tests on the mammal’s remains to see if an infectious disease is spreading in the species.
A dwarf sperm whale was found early on Saturday morning on the shore of Yen Liao beach in Shoufeng Township (壽豐).
A majority of the dead whales have been sperm whales, leading experts to speculate that bacteria found in the latest corpse is indicative of an infectious disease.
Samples taken from the latest whale have been sent to a veterinary lab for tests.
Experts say the multitude of recent typhoons might have caused the animals to lose their direction and get pushed onto shore by massive waves.
However, they said it is rare for so many whales to beach in such a short period of time, and hope tests can help them find the exact cause of the incidents.
Farglory Ocean Park veterinarian Jen Yi-fan (任一凡), members of the Kuroshio Ocean Education Fund and the Taiwan Cetacean Society and staff from the county’s Bureau of Agriculture performed a dissection to take samples before returning the remains to the sea.
The 2m whale had been dead for three days when it was found and its body had already split in several places.
Kuroshio chief executive Chang Hui-chun (張卉君) said that given the high number of incidents over such a short time along with their concentration in one area of the coast and among two similar species — the pygmy sperm whale and the dwarf sperm whale — it would appear that the typhoons were not the sole cause of the deaths.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS