A woman in Yilan County, whose dog found a baby Formosan rock macaque a month ago, took the monkey to the county’s Animal and Plant Disease Center for a health check on Tuesday, saying she wants to adopt it.
Lee Huai-chen (李懷珍) said she had already applied to the county’s Agriculture Department for permission to adopt the rock monkey, a species endemic to Taiwan.
Lee, a karaoke lounge owner in Suao (蘇澳), said her dog found it and carried it to her husband’s work shack in a hillside village in Yilan about a month ago.
Photo: CNA
The monkey appeared to be a newborn, about 20cm in height, she said, adding that its tiny head was covered in blood from several wounds when it was found.
Lee said she has been taking care of the baby monkey since then.
“I’ve changed diapers, fed it bottles of milk formula and put it to sleep next to my bed,” she said.
“We all call it Rockie,” because the little monkey falls asleep to the sound of rock music at the karaoke lounge and wakes up when the music stops, she said.
After learning that protected species might carry contagious diseases such as tuberculosis (TB), she decided to take it to the quarantine center for a health check, she said.
However, she said she is worried that if the monkey were found to have TB, it would be given “humanitarian treatment,” meaning euthanasia.
She is also worried her adoption application would not be accepted because of the wildlife protection law, she said.
The Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法) prohibits hunting, raising or breeding protected wildlife, unless under special circumstances stated in the act or related legislation.
Kuo Tzu-ming, a staff member at the department’s animal conservation affairs division, said Rockie had probably been abandoned by its mother.
Adoption of injured protected animals is rarely permitted, Kuo said. Most injured wild animals that are rescued are usually released into the wild after they recover, he said.
However, Lee’s application could be regarded as a special case, Kuo said.
Formosan rock macaques are born to live in groups, he said. If the monkey is released into the wild rather than raised as a pet, it may not be able to survive because monkey troops do not easily accept outsiders, he added.
He said Lee’s adoption application would require an evaluation of her home, as well as an assessment of her knowledge of the species and her willingness to raise the animal.
‘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
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
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
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