The wild sambar population in Nantou County’s Jiufenershan (九份二山) has been restored to 4,000, after nearly two decades of intensive conservation following the 921 Earthquake, the Council of Agriculture’s Soil and Water Conservation Bureau said yesterday.
The bureau had been tight-lipped about the conservation program to avoid attracting visitors who might have disrupted the efforts, bureau Nantou Branch Director Chen Jung-chun (陳榮俊) said.
As the deer population has largely recovered, the bureau now deems it safe to reveal the program to the public for the first time as the 20th anniversary of the earthquake approaches, Chen said.
Photo provided by the Nantou branch of the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau
Tourists visiting would have disrupted reproduction during a critical time, he said, adding that the Endemic Species Research Institute and local residents estimate the deer population at about 4,000.
The 921 Earthquake, also known as the 1999 Jiji Earthquake, was a tremor of 7.3 on the Richter scale that wreaked havoc across Taiwan, resulting in 2,456 deaths and estimated property damage of NT$300 billion (US$9.71 million at the current exchange rate). The quake’s epicenter was in the county’s Jiji Township (集集).
The bureau was given the responsibility to restore 256 hectares in Nantou’s Guosing Township (國姓), later named the 921 Earthquake National Memorial Site in Jiufenershan, which was heavily damaged, he said.
The quake led to the collapse of Jiufenershan’s dip slope, triggering a 36 million cubic meter landslide that killed 41 people and 300 deer in a 180 hectare area, and forming two barrier lakes, he said.
Since then, the bureau has kept a constant watch on the condition of the slope and run a program to repopulate the area with wild deer by restoring the natural environment and releasing deer bred in captivity, he said.
Visitors are invited to observe the deer, provided that they do not harm or otherwise disturb the animals, he said, adding that herds often gather near the Slanted House (傾斜屋) on Longnan Road, the Ground Zero (震爆點) area and the barrier lake on Sezihkeng Creek (澀仔坑溪).
Two photography competitions are open for submissions until the end of July, with one focusing on the deer, and the other on natural scenery and the local community, he said.
A total of NT$180,000 in prize money is to be divided among the winning contestants, he said.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
RSS