A powerful pesticide is to blame for the death of an estimated 1,200 birds in Beinan Township (卑南), the Taitung County Animal Disease Control Center said on Wednesday.
The mass bird mortality, which occurred on Jan. 5 and 6, was first reported on Facebook by an organic farmer, who said that others in the area might be poisoning the birds.
The report sparked concern among local and national conservation groups, including the Taitung Wild Bird Society and the Taiwan Association for Falconry Culture and Raptor Conservation.
Photo: CNA
An examination found that rice in the stomachs of the birds contained high residual levels of carbofuran, one of the most toxic pesticides available on the market, which was ruled to be the cause of death, the center said in a statement.
A subtype of carbamate pesticides, carbofuran is most commonly used to control insects at newly planted rice or vegetable fields, the center said.
Officials did not rule out the possibility of intentional poisoning and the Seventh Special Police Corps was advised to investigate the incident, Taitung Department of Agriculture Director Hsu Jui-kui (許瑞貴) said.
The Council of Agriculture on Jan. 1 banned four types of carbofuran products due to concerns about their toxicity, the Taitung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station said.
“This office believes that a pesticide user or users have failed to apply the recommended dilution ratio on the label of all licensed carbofuran products, which led to the senseless deaths of the birds,” the station said.
Wu Chia-wen (吳嘉文), the officer in charge of the Seventh Special Police Corps in Taitung, confirmed that an investigation is ongoing, but added that local farmers interviewed by the unit had denied using the pesticide.
The Council of Agriculture had said the previous evening that 3 percent-concentration pellets are the only acceptable carbofuran product for use in rice paddies and farmers who use illegal pesticides could be fined up to NT$150,000.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS