The Lienchiang County Government yesterday launched an attempt to save a group of Chinese Crested Terns — a critically endangered species — found roosting on one of the islets in the Matsu Islands.
Ko Mu-shun (柯木順), director of the Construction Bureau under the county government, which has jurisdiction over the Matsu Islands, said the decision was reached after consultation with the Council of Agriculture.
The team, consisting of bird experts and county government officials, landed on an islet where an international bird-watching group sighted a small colony of Chinese Crested Terns last week. The team will examine the situation and decide whether to ask the Wild Bird Society of Taipei to send experts for a rescue mission, Ko said.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ASSOCIATION OF SUSTAINABLE ECOLOGICAL ENGI
Last week, Simon Liao (廖世卿), vice president of the Taiwan International Birding Association, and 10 other executives of bird-watching associations from the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and the Netherlands, saw 16 Chinese Crested Terns — the largest number of the rare birds ever recorded.
They said one of the birds had a section of plastic pipe around the bottom of its beak, and that if the object was not removed, the bird could die of starvation within a few days.
Pictures of the bird were carried in local media on Monday.
The Chinese Crested Tern, also known as Thalasseus bernsteini, is one of the world’s rarest birds, with the entire population reported to be fewer than 50 birds.
For most of the 20th century, the species was thought to be extinct, with confirmed sightings in the wild ceasing in 1937.
However, in 2000 a filmmaker discovered a small number of the birds in the Matsu Islands, with the number growing steadily in the past years.
During the latest sighting, bird-watchers said they saw three young birds at the colony, which they saw as evidence that the rare birds are breeding in the Matsu Islands.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and