A project to surveil the habits of leopard cats has yielded some success, the Miaoli County Government said yesterday, pledging to use the information to establish measures that would decrease the number of the animals killed in the county.
There have been numerous reports of leopard cats killed by vehicles on stretches of County Road No. 140, the Miaoli Bureau of Agriculture said, adding that the county government in October last year commissioned a research group to set up 13 infrared cameras around the Huoyanshan Tunnel (火炎山隧道) and Jhuolan Township (卓蘭) to monitor the animal’s habits.
An elevated stretch of the county road parallel to the Daan Wetland Park (大安溪濕地公園) near Jhuolan has seen leopard cat activity, the county government said.
Photo: Peng Chien-li, Taipei Times
Cameras set up near a riverbed in the park’s southeast also captured footage of nocturnal activity by the animals, it said.
The team found that with proper management, the park could provide leopard cats with a pathway across the road, which could help decrease their fatalities, it added.
The bureau would use the information collected by the cameras to set up barriers or plants to shield leopard cats from oncoming traffic, Natural Ecology Conservation Division head Chang Wei (張葦) said.
The county government said that it has commissioned a project to gauge the county’s leopard cat population, which would be used to inform future development decisions.
It said that it has finalized the autonomous regulations for conservation of leopard cats and has forwarded the legislation to the Miaoli County Council for review.
The basic outline of the regulations aim to ensure checks and balances between civic groups and the county government, it added.
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