Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) Aviation Police officers yesterday intercepted a package containing a 1m-long ball python.
Songshan Aviation Police Bureau officials said the package was found at 6:50am when officers were using the X-ray machine to inspect packages to be delivered by Uni Air Flight B7-601 to Magong Airport in Penghu County.
The officers later opened the delivery box and found the live ball python, which weighs about 2kg.
Photo: Chiang Hsiang, Taipei Times
The bureau said that the package was sent by a college student surnamed Yang (楊).
However, Yang made no mention of the live animal prior to shipping, indicating only that the item inside the box was a “fragile gift,” it added.
The bureau said that Yang was surprised to receive a call from police officials, adding that he thought it was no big deal to have his pet shipped via air.
As Yang was already in Magong when officers found the package, he was asked to come and claim the snake when he returns to Taiwan proper, the bureau said.
Even though live snakes are not on the list of items deemed threatening to flight safety, the bureau said that the Uni Air flight manual has banned the delivery of such animals.
Additionally, the item declared by the passenger did not match the item found inside the box, the bureau added.
Beyond notifying the passenger, the bureau said that it asked the Council of Agriculture to identify the species of the snake.
Many air carriers reject requests to deliver certain pets, including mice, lizards, crickets, snakes, monkeys, parrots, eagles and chameleons, the bureau said, adding that the owners of these pets could consider shipping them via sea transport services if airlines reject delivery requests.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS