The Council of Agriculture (COA) yesterday proposed imposing heavier penalties for animal smuggling after the agency on Saturday euthanized 154 valuable cats illegally imported from China on a Taiwanese fishing boat on Friday.
The killing of the smuggled cats, which occurred on the same day as International Homeless Animals Day, sparked an outcry.
COA Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) yesterday at a news conference in Taipei defended the council’s decision, saying that the agency had no choice but to put down the animals.
Photo courtesy of the Coast Guard Administration
“Even after quarantine, these cats could still carry ... diseases due to the long latency periods of viruses, which could pose a major threat to pets and farm animals in Taiwan,” Chen said.
He said that many animal lovers might find the council’s decision hard to accept, but the veterinarians who were ordered to put down the cats were the saddest of all.
Council officials were also torn between reason and emotion, he added.
“As one who is responsible for animal and plant quarantine affairs, I made the final decision ... because it simply had to be done. If there are criticisms about the way the council handled this matter, let them be directed at me rather than ground-level workers at the council,” Chen said.
These cats were smuggled from China, a high-risk nation for rabies, Chen said, adding that the fatality rate for people who are bitten by an animal with rabies is 100 percent once the infection has taken hold.
To curb animal smuggling, Chen said that the council would work with the Ministry of Justice to amend the Smuggling Penalty Act (懲治走私條例) to allow prison sentences for animal smugglers of more than seven years, which is currently the maximum sentence.
The council would also amend the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法), which imposes a fine of NT$100,000 to NT$3 million (US$3,570 to US$107,112) on unlicensed animal vendors or those selling animals from unknown sources.
Once the act is amended, the starting fine would be NT$3 million, he said.
The boat that helped smuggle cats into Taiwan has been permanently banned from conducting fishing business, Chen said.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) condemned smugglers on Facebook, saying that she supported the council’s decision to amend the laws, to ensure that smuggled animals are treated more humanely.
In related news, the COA’s African Swine Fever Disaster Response Center yesterday reported the first case of African swine fever found in smuggled meat products.
The virus was discovered in a 71.79kg shipment of meat imported from Vietnam by a local distributor using a courier service, it said.
The center is investigating whether any infected meat has made its way into local markets, and would destroy it if found, it said.
Pork accounted for 60.28kg of the smuggled shipment, chicken products made up 5.81kg and beef products 5.7kg, Chen said.
The shipment also included a 15.74kg parcel of onions, he said, adding that the entire shipment was destroyed.
“This was the first time in the three years since an African swine fever outbreak occurred in the region that we have intercepted a smuggled shipment containing traces of the virus,” he said.
As this was not the first shipment of processed meat products from Vietnam to be smuggled into Taiwan, officials were tracing the source of all products sold in markets and testing those currently on shelves, he said.
Meanwhile, the Customs Administration said it has confiscated more than 200kg of meat products over the past two weeks, mostly comprised of mooncakes with meat filling and sausages.
Additional reporting by CNA
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique