An 18-year-old Southeast Asian clouded leopard living at Taipei Zoo has died of multiple organ failure, the zoo said yesterday.
The female clouded leopard, named Yunhsin (雲新), was brought to Taiwan by wildlife smugglers and seized by customs officials in 2001 before the zoo took it into its care, the zoo said yesterday.
It initially kept its distance from humans, but gradually developed a rapport with zookeepers and started responding to visitors’ calls by moving toward them, the zoo said, adding that its gentle look impressed many visitors.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Zoo
Over the past few years, the animal grew senile, its mobility declined and its eyesight deteriorated to the point that it could barely respond to people calling to it, the zoo said.
To alleviate its discomfort, the zookeepers had adjusted the height of its food tray and closely monitored the animal on cold days, but it eventually succumbed to organ failure, it said.
The zoo urged people not to purchase animal or plant products with unidentified origins, as this would stop smugglers from making a profit and prevent the spread of animal diseases.
In related news, the Council of Agriculture’s Forestry Bureau yesterday unveiled an animal-themed calendar for next year to raise awareness about animal conservation.
The calendar is to be available at the bureau’s store in Taipei’s Huashan 1914 Creative Park from Saturday, it said.
The store, which opened this month, promotes Aboriginal cultural and agricultural products, as well as the bureau’s publications.
Last year’s forest-themed digital calendar, featuring botanical images and poetic descriptions, went viral online, but some people were disappointed that it was not physically available and could only be downloaded for a limited time.
The new calendar features images of animals that live in low-altitudes and near humans, the bureau said.
The calendar costs NT$250, but it would be on sale at 21 percent off on the first day, it said.
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:
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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