With Yushan National Park having being closed to the public for more than a month to help contain the COVID-19 outbreak, animals are once more free to stroll around on the forest paths and trails in the park’s recreation areas. Elegant Mikado pheasants, shy Formosan serows, sambar deer and other creatures have all been showing up and foraging at their leisure. Animals that used to only appear at dawn and dusk, when there is not much sign of humans, are now more visible than before.
The Yushan National Park administration says that sambars have recently often been seen grazing in and around the Tataka Recreation Area, and signs of grazing by animals can be seen among the plants that grow there. Female Mikado pheasants and colorful male Mikado pheasants are venturing onto mountain paths to look for food. While the park is closed to contain the outbreak, wild animals are being seen more frequently. It has become just like an amusement park for animals.
With fewer people on the trails, the animals need no longer worry about being disturbed by outsiders, so they are gradually starting to move around on the trails and paths. Park staff have observed frequent appearances by shy and cautious wild animals such as Reeves’s muntjacs, sambars and serows, and the animals’ eyes now look more calm and relaxed, rather than tense and nervous as they tend to be when there are a lot of visitors around.
Photo: Yushan NATIONAL PARK HEADQUARTERS 照片：玉山國家公園管理處提供
The park administration emphasizes that, in view of the extended epidemic-control alert, it is calling on the public to avoid going to the recreation areas. The recreation areas will keep their trails, chalets and visitors’ centers closed, while parking lots are being restricted to 40 percent of their normal capacity. The authorities hope that everyone can put up with the situation for a little longer while doing a good job of containing the outbreak and protecting themselves. When the outbreak is over and the park is reopened, people can freely return to the embrace of the mountain forests.
(Translated by Julian Clegg, Taipei Times)
玉山國家公園歷經一個多月防疫封園管制，園區林道、步道重現動物自在逛大街的身影，例如優雅的帝雉（黑長尾雉）、害羞的山羊、水鹿等，都現身悠閒覓食，過去只有在晨昏、人少時出現的動物，現在能見度都提高。
Photo: Yushan NATIONAL PARK HEADQUARTERS 照片：玉山國家公園管理處提供
玉山國家公園管理處表示，近來在塔塔加園區一帶，常見水鹿覓食身影，周邊植物都能看見動物覓食過的啃痕，而在林道也能看見母帝雉，或是色彩艷麗的公帝雉外出覓食，防疫封園期間，看見野生動物的頻率變高，儼然成為動物樂園。
由於步道上人跡減少，動物不用擔心外界干擾，便逐漸跑到步道、林道活動，園區工作人員觀察到害羞或戒心高的山羌、水鹿、山羊等野生動物頻繁出現，且動物眼神都變得較為自在從容，不像過往遊客多時，容易出現緊繃神情。
玉管處強調，由於防疫警戒再延長，呼籲民眾避免到園區活動，園區也將持續關閉步道、山屋、遊客中心，停車場容留數也降到剩四成，盼大家再忍耐一下，做好防疫與自我保護，待疫情解封，就能重回山林懷抱。
（自由時報記者劉濱銓）
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