Kaohsiung’s Shoushan Zoo has said that long-time elephant caretaker Chang Yung-hsing (張永興) is to retire next year and part with an African elephant named A-li (阿里) that he has cared for over the past 39 years.
Chang was 23 when first started caring for the then-five-year-old female elephant, zoo director Chuang Hsuan-chih (莊絢智) said.
“The man and the elephant share a profound rapport,” Chuang said.
Photo courtesy of Shoushan Zoo
Now 44, A-li is one of three African elephants in Taiwan and the only one in Shoushan Zoo. The other two are in Taipei Zoo.
Shoushan Zoo officials are concerned that Chang’s retirement could depress A-li and they have been familiarizing the elephant with her new caretaker over the past three years, Chuang said.
Captive elephants can become attached to their human caretakers and losing familiar caretakers can cause elephants to become depressed and refuse to eat until they starve to death, Chuang said.
“We hope to gradually reduce A-li’s emotional dependence on Chang,” she added.
A-li’s caretaker-in-waiting, Pai Po-yuan (白博元), said that although he has been Chang’s assistant for three years, the elephant has not entirely warmed up to him.
Although A-li understands that he is Chang’s occasional substitute, the staff still have to keep the elephant behind safety barriers when he cleans the enclosure or brings her food, Pai said.
“If I make a wrong move, my life could be in danger,” he said, adding that the situation is still an improvement over when A-li was throwing stones and dung at him.
National Dong Hwa University environmental science professor Kurtis Pei (裴家騏) has urged Shoushan Zoo to let A-li live with the elephants in Taipei Zoo as a humane alternative to solitude.
All three of the nation’s African elephants are females, which are naturally social, and it is inhumane to make A-li live without companionship, the Chinese-language Apple Daily quoted Pei as saying.
Taipei and Kaohsiung city officials said they agree that it would be preferable to let the elephants live together, but the elephants might not get along, as they are territorial and might resist being moved, the newspaper said.
Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau Director Tseng Tzu-wen (曾姿雯) said the bureau is interested in protecting the welfare of zoo animals and is willing to discuss the issue with Taipei Zoo, the newspaper said.
Taipei Zoo spokesman Chin Shih-chien (金士謙) said that the elephants at the zoo have lived together for decades and might not accept A-li, but the proposal has a lot of merit and deserves serious consideration, it said.
“No matter how difficult, this is an issue that is worth our colleagues at Shoushan and us expending some effort and trying to find a solution,” he was quoted as saying.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
The Taipei District Court today ruled to extend the incommunicado detention of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) for two more months as part of an ongoing corruption trial. Codefendants in the case — real-estate tycoon Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) and Ko's former mayoral office head Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗) — were granted bail of NT$100 million (US$3.4 million) and NT$20 million respectively. Sheen and Lee would also be barred from leaving the country for eight months and prohibited from contact with, harassing, threatening or inquiring after the case with codefendants or witnesses. The two would also be
RSS