The Forestry Bureau yesterday said it planned to establish a new wildlife management area — the nation’s largest — in the Danda (丹大) area of Nantou County, amid renewed efforts to monitor and protect the environment and promote biological diversity and a sustainable ecological environment.
The bureau said it would develop the protected area in terms of the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法). It will consist of 109,952 hectares in the mountainous area, making it the country’s largest wildlife conservation area.
The Nantou Forest District Office said the planned Danda -wildlife conservation area contains a diverse array of organisms. Aside from rare animals, there are also rare plants, such as red and yellow cypresses, Taiwan yews, firs, Torreya trees and orchids, as well as plant species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.
Photo: Courtesy of the Nantou Forest District Office
The bureau’s monitoring records show that endangered mammals in the area include Formosan macaques, pangolins, Formosan clouded leopards, Formosan bears, yellow-throated martens, ferrets, weasels, brown Mino cats, muntjacs, Taiwan mountain goats and Formosan sambars.
The protected bird species are also diverse and include the crested goshawk, the crested serpent eagle, the forest eagle, the bear eagle, the Swinhoe’s pheasant, the green pigeon, the brown wood owl, the grey owl, the spotted Scops owl (Otus spilocephalus), the small swallowtail, the white-tailed robin, the yellow-bellied fairy flycatcher, the Huangshan bird, the green-backed tit, the Taiwan Dai Ju and the Taiwan blue magpie.
Liu Fu-cheng (劉福成), director of the forest’s district office, said ecological conservation was an important international issue and the creation of the conservation area would help protect biological diversity and provide useful resources for ecological research and monitoring.
Human intrusion has caused a lot of damage to natural habitats and the task of ecological monitoring and management is now more important than ever, he said.
Taiwan does not exclude the possibility of having formal diplomatic relations with countries that also have formal ties with China, regardless of Beijing’s stance, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on Sunday. There was speculation in 2012 that Honduras was attempting to have simultaneous diplomatic relations with Taiwan and China, an idea that then-minister of foreign affairs David Lin (林永樂) rejected. Honduras severed formal ties with Taiwan on Sunday morning after establishing diplomatic relations with Beijing. President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration has taken a more practical approach to relations with like-minded countries since assuming government in 2016. Previous administrations took the
Seven senior faculty members, including the principal, of a high school in Taichung were temporarily suspended from their jobs on Friday, pending an investigation by the Taichung Education Bureau into alleged bullying and abuse that led to the suicide of a student last month. The city’s education officials were too slow to suspend those involved, the student’s father told a news conference on Wednesday, at which Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) and members of the Humanistic Education Foundation were also present. The boy had been a good student and a high achiever during elementary and junior-high, and had
ORIGIN UNKNOWN: The Leofoo Village Theme Park and Taipei Zoo have accounted for their baboons, as authorities continue a 12-day capture attempt Authorities in Taoyuan are searching for a non-native baboon, possibly of the chacma species, that has been spotted several times in the city’s Pingjhen District (平鎮) over the past 12 days, and was most recently seen in coastal Sinwu District (新屋). The baboon was first spotted near a local factory on March 10 in central Taoyuan, Jhensing Borough Warden Huang Chih-chieh (黃志杰) said. Huang said he requested the Leofoo Village Theme Park’s help after a second sighting on Saturday. In other sightings, the baboon raided fruit and vegetable gardens on private property, and has evaded one capture attempt via a tranquilizer dart. Media reported
Taiwan would have established formal relations with Argentina long ago if not for China’s interference, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Yui told US-based Spanish-language online news outlet Infobae in an interview published on Tuesday. Beijing has left behind a string of unfulfilled promises in Latin America, including pledges to build the Grand Nicaragua Canal and airports, docks, ports and industrial zones in El Salvador, he said. Meanwhile, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico and other countries enjoy pragmatic and improving relations with Taiwan based on cooperation on the economy, culture, technology and science, he said. While Taiwan is “happy to live and let live,”