Circus acts featuring lions, tigers and bears may soon be a thing of the past, as the legislature yesterday passed on first reading an amendment to the Wildlife Conservation Law (野生動物保育法).
Human performers are capable of putting on a circus show without animals, legislators said at an Economics and Energy Committee meeting.
The amendment, sponsored by DPP Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (
"Circuses do not need animals to be fun and successful," Tien said.
Tien cited the Cirque du Soleil as an example of a successful circus that performs without animals on stage.
Tien pointed to several incidents in the past few years to support her argument. Two years ago, a circus bear mauled a three-year-old boy at a farm in Tainan, resulting in the boy's arm being amputated. In 2002, a Bengali tiger on a traveling show from Las Vegas bit off a woman's hand. And this year, two wolves and three bears were found at an abandoned resort farm, left over from a circus from Mongolia which dissolved in Taiwan.
"Whether we are talking from the point of view of public safety, disease prevention or animal welfare, this amendment to stop circus animals from being imported into Taiwan is necessary," Tien said.
Tien also said that banning wild animals trained for the circus from entering Taiwan was a sound policy as it would help wildlife conservation and improve the nation's image abroad.
"Most important, by exposing our children to wild animals through circus acts, we are setting an incorrect example of how humans should interact with animals," Tien said.
The committee also reviewed an amendment sponsored by DPP Legislator Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷), seeking to amend the Wildlife Conservation Law to compensate farmers whose crops are damaged by Formosan macaques -- a protected animal. The measure, which was opposed by the Council of Agriculture, did not pass.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS