Twenty-four dead water buffaloes have been found in Yangmingshan (陽明山) in the past few months, the Taipei City Animal Protection Office said yesterday, urging the public to stay away from buffaloes in the area.
In October, there were an estimated 80 wild water buffaloes in the mountain, but since then, there have been reports of the animals being found dead, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Keng Wei (耿葳) said on Friday.
Initially, the reports were confined to the area along the Qingtiangang (擎天崗) trail, but there have since been reports from the nearby Shihtiling (石梯嶺) area, Keng said.
Photo provided by the Taipei City Animal Protection Office via CNA
Investigators have not been able to keep up with the reports, she said, adding that she hopes the situation can become a higher priority of the government.
Shih Jui-ling (施瑞伶), head of the office’s investigation team, said the buffaloes’ bodies showed no obvious signs of disease, and although many of them were found with their necks arched backward, nothing conclusive could be determined until lab tests were conducted.
The office had already drawn blood, urine and fecal samples from 10 of the animals, and taken swabs from inside their mouths to send to the Animal Health Research Institute for testing, office director Yang Shu-fang (楊淑方) said.
The investigation team had also collected water and plant samples from areas where the buffaloes graze, to check for the possible presence of toxic substances, Yang said.
The public is advised to stay away from the area until investigations are complete, to avoid the possibility of contact with a disease that might spread to humans, she said.
The office has already contacted Yangmingshan National Park authorities to request that trails in the area be temporarily closed, cordoned off and thoroughly sanitized, she said.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
Fast food chain McDonald's is to raise prices by up to NT$5 on some products at its restaurants across Taiwan, starting on Wednesday next week, the company announced today. The prices of all extra value meals and sharing boxes are to increase by NT$5, while breakfast combos and creamy corn soup would go up by NT$3, the company said in a statement. The price of the main items of those meals, if ordered individually, would remain the same. Meanwhile, the price of a medium-sized lemon iced tea and hot cappuccino would rise by NT$3, extra dipping sauces for chicken nuggets would go up
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
RSS