The Changhua District Court found two local residents guilty of pouring boiling water on goose eggs at a neighbor’s farm in Yuanlin City, Changhua County.
Chang Chen-mei (張陳梅), 74, and her son Chang Tzu-hsi (張慈錫), 53, were handed prison sentences of 28 and eight days respectively for property damage, which can be commuted to fines of NT$1,000 per day, the court said.
A woman surnamed Lin (林) who lives on a farm near the Chang residence, said her family keeps geese for security reasons and she installed cameras after their eggs failed to hatch, court documents showed.
Photo: Chen Kuan-pei, Taipei Times
Footage showed that the Changs had entered the property and poured boiling water on the eggs, Lin said.
The Changs told police that they had sabotaged the eggs, as the birds make too much noise at night, court documents showed.
Chang Chen-mei was found guilty of five counts of property damage and Chang Tzu-hsi guilty of one, the presiding judge wrote in the verdict.
Lin said that she was angered by the distress and injuries the Changs inflicted on one adult goose.
She pressed charges because the Changs refused to make amends, Lin said.
Another neighbor said on condition of anonymity that the geese are loud and can be heard 100m from the Lin farm.
Yuanlin-based attorney Cheng Chih-wen (鄭智文) said the sentences are “appropriate” for a case of minor property damage that was not settled out of court.
The destruction of eggs is not deemed cruelty to animals under the law, Cheng said.
The verdict can still be appealed.
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