A male “liger” cub — an illegally bred cross between a male lion and a tigress — died on Friday, with another listed in critical condition, an animal shelter said yesterday.
Pei Jai-chyi (裴家騏), director of National Pingtung University of Science and Technology’s Protected Animal Rescue Center in southern Taiwan, said the two ligers were in poor condition when they were brought to the center on Monday.
“The two ligers were obviously underweight and had weak immune systems when they arrived,” Pei said.
He said the animals have a poor chance of survival and are also prone to genetic problems.
“Ligers usually suffer from genetic problems due to the cross-breeding of the two species, putting the cubs in a dangerous situation from the moment they are born,” he said.
He added that the two cubs had been in intensive care since their arrival, which meant there had been no opportunity to conduct health checks on them.
Pei said the male cub was sent for an autopsy after it died and was found to have accumulated fluid in its lungs. It also had a distended kidney and spleen.
They were two of three ligers born to a tigeress in a private zoo in southern Taiwan. One of the cubs died of hypothermia shortly after birth, while the remaining two were confiscated and taken to the center for intensive care.
Huang Kuo-nan (黃國男), the owner of the zoo in Tainan County, has been accused of violating the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法) and fined NT$50,000 (US$1,565) for allowing the animals to breed, an amount criticized by an animal protection group as being “too little to pay for such illegal behavior.”
Commenting on the case, Tainan County Commissioner Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智) said he found the Council of Agriculture’s (COA) decision to relocate the cubs inappropriate as Huang, the original owner, has years of experience taking care of the animals and knows how to take care of them.
If the COA had informed him prior to the decision, he would have insisted on not relocating the cubs, Su said.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
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
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