Peng Kuan-chieh (彭冠傑), who fell in love with sea turtles during a childhood visit to the Green Sea Turtle Museum in Penghu County’s Wangan Township (望安), has channeled his passion into making polymer clay models of the creatures, which are being used to encourage conservation efforts and to raise money.
“Seeing the turtles and their filmy eyes, they were so cute,” Peng on Friday said of his childhood visit.
He was also moved by watching a program on the Discovery Channel that detailed how sea turtles laid their eggs on beaches, he said.
Photo: CNA
He chose to study sea turtles for his master’s degree and is even serving his alternative military service on Pingtung’s Siaoliouciou Island (小琉球) to be closer to the reptiles.
Green sea turtles can often be seen hunting for food at high tide in the waters off Siaoliouciou, Peng said.
However, the animals can only be seen on Wangan’s beaches during the spawning season, he added.
Photo: CNA
The ban on gill nets in the region has led to frequent sightings of small to middle-sized sea turtles, Peng said.
After a hostel owner asked him for one of his models, Peng said it gave him the idea that he could put them to good use and decided to make a large number.
The Dapeng Bay National Scenic Park uses the models to raise money for sea turtle conservation, saying on their Facebook page that those who donate 10 receipts to the park can receive one for free.
All 35 models were snapped up within minutes of the offer being posted, Peng said.
Peng said he is to attend five beach cleaning events organized by the park this month and he would be offering five turtles to participants at each clean-up.
Participants would receive one coin for every 2kg of trash they pick up and they would be able to exchange the coins for models, Peng said.
He is also making 10 more models available for the park to exchange for 20 receipts, he said.
Peng said he hoped to be able be work on sea turtle conservation or a related field, but if he could not find paid work, he would continue to help out as a volunteer.
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
Deliveries of delayed F-16V jets are expected to begin in September, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said today, after senior defense officials visited the US last week. The US in 2019 approved a US$8 billion sale of Lockheed Martin F-16 jets to Taiwan, a deal that would take the nation’s F-16 fleet to more than 200 jets, but the project has been hit by issues including software problems. Koo appeared today before a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which is discussing different versions of the special defense budget this week. The committee is questioning officials today,
TALENT SCOUTING: The university is investing substantial funds in its future to bring in the kind of researchers that would keep the college internationally competitive National Taiwan University (NTU) plans to invest NT$2 billion (US$62.6 million) to launch two programs aimed at attracting and retaining top research talent, university president Chen Wen-chang (陳文章) said yesterday. The funding would support the “Palm Grove Scholars Project,” which targets academics aged 40 to 55. Up to 20 scholars would be selected, each receiving as much as NT$10 million annually, Chen said. The initiative is designed to attract leading researchers to Taiwan and strengthen NTU’s global competitiveness by fostering a more research-friendly environment and expanding international collaboration, he said. NTU is also introducing a “Hong Hu” chair grant, which would provide Palm
RSS