The area adjacent to Jiaming Lake (嘉明湖) in southeastern Taiwan has emerged as a paradise for wild animals three months after Typhoon Morakot wiped out hiking trails leading to the scenic mountain lake, forest rangers said yesterday.
Torrential rain brought by Typhoon Morakot triggered landslides in many of Taiwan’s mountain regions, including the Siangyang National Forest Recreation Area in Yushan National Park, where the remote lake is situated.
“With hiking trails leading to Siangyang (向陽) and Jiaming Lake seriously damaged, hikers disappeared, allowing many endemic animal species to reclaim lost territory,” said Huang Chium-tse(黃群策), a section chief at the Taitung branch office of the Council of Agriculture’s Forestry Bureau.
PHOTO: CNA
While examining typhoon damage along a major hiking trail, Huang said he was amazed to spot several Formosan salamanders — a top-grade protected species endemic to Taiwan that lives at elevations above 2,000m — in the Siangyang hut.
Walking deeper into the mountain, Huang and his colleagues were in for an even bigger surprise.
“We came across many other protected animal species that have not been seen in the region since Jiaming Lake became a popular hiking spot,” Huang said.
Among the species spotted were Formosan yellow-throated martens, Formosan field mice and Formosan sambar, a kind of deer.
Lin Ming-chuang (林明壯), a forest ranger at the Siangyang work station, said the Siangyang-Jiaming area became inaccessible to hikers after Typhoon Morakot, allowing wild animals to return to their previous habitats.
“Hiking trails have again become dominated by wild animals,” he said. “Without human presence, many sambar now often loiter in the Siangyang Forest Recreation Area at night and yellow-throated martens also like to stroll along Siangyang-Jiaming hiking trails.”
The absence of the thousands of hikers that used to visit the area every weekend in previous years had helped restore the surrounding environment to a more pristine state, Lin said.
“The damage to access roads may be a boon, allowing the region to take a rest and resume its function as a safe haven for wild animals,” he said.
At an elevation of 3,310m and measuring 120m by 80m, the lake has become a popular hiking spot in recent years because of its clear water and beautiful scenery.
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
The Chinese wife of a Taiwanese, surnamed Liu (劉), who openly advocated for China’s use of force against Taiwan, would be forcibly deported according to the law if she has not left Taiwan by Friday, National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials said yesterday. Liu, an influencer better known by her online channel name Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣), obtained permanent residency via marriage to a Taiwanese. She has been reported for allegedly repeatedly espousing pro-unification comments on her YouTube and TikTok channels, including comments supporting China’s unification with Taiwan by force and the Chinese government’s stance that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.” Liu
FATE UNKNOWN: The owner of the dog could face a fine of up to NT$150,000 and the animal could be euthanized if he cannot show that he can effectively supervise it A pit bull terrier has been confiscated by authorities after it yesterday morning bit a motorcyclist in Taipei, following footage of the same dog in a similar attack going viral online earlier this month. When the owner, surnamed Hsu (徐), stopped at a red light on Daan District’s (大安) Wolong Street at 8am, the dog, named “Lucky,” allegedly rolled down the automatic window of the pickup truck they were riding in, leapt out of the rear passenger window and attacked a motorcyclist behind them, Taipei’s Daan District Police Precinct said. The dog clamped down on the man’s leg and only let go
RSS