Each year many animals in the country are killed or injured by dangerous gin traps that can be easily bought at hardware stores, a legislator and animal rights groups said yesterday as they called on the government to ban the traps.
“Gin traps are the No. 1 killer of animals in Taiwan,” Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) said at a news conference held with representatives from several animal rights and protection groups.
They said vegetable farmers or livestock breeders use gin traps — a metal clip with sharp teeth — to prevent stray animals, mostly dogs and cats, from eating their harvests or flocks.
PHOTO: CNA
However, the devices can harm the animals badly or cause them to bleed to death after being left in the trap, said Lin Ya-che (林雅哲), a veterinarian who also serves as a volunteer for the Life Conservationist Association.
Although the use of the devices is banned, people can easily purchase them at hardware stores because the law does not ban their manufacture and sale, Ting said, citing a local academic who estimated that there are around 3 million of the traps around the country.
The traps, which cost between NT$35 and NT$50 each, can be found in national parks, putting endangered animals and people who stray from hiking trails at risk, he said.
Lin said that the National Police Agency should consider gin traps as weapons to restrict them from being manufactured or traded in the country.
“Gin traps are like landmines that can harm anyone who steps on them unexpectedly,” Lin said.
In response, Forestry Bureau Deputy Director General Lee Tao-sheng (李桃生) said that under the existing law, people who trap unprotected animals with gin traps face a fine of between NT$60,000 and NT$300,000. If they harm a protected animal such as a Formosan black bear, they will be punished with between six months and five years imprisonment, along with a fine of between NT$200,000 and NT$1 million (US$30,600), Lee said.
He said that more effort would be made to crack down on the use of the traps in forests, including reinforcing patrols in the woods, but he said that it is difficult to catch the people who set the traps.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
RSS