The Council of Agriculture (COA) yesterday decided to remove Formosan rock macaques and seven other species from its list of protected species, while adding 17 species to it.
The council’s Forestry Bureau yesterday convened a five-hour meeting with experts to discuss the classification of wildlife, with the protection status of macaques being one of the most heatedly debated issues.
Among the 17 species being added to the list are the Taiwan rosefinch, the long-tailed pigeon and the Formosan yuhina, the bureau said.
GENERAL WILDLIFE
Eight formerly protected species, including the macaques, the Formosan Reeve’s muntjac and the masked palm civet have been reclassified as general wildlife, it said.
“The decision has nothing to do with agricultural losses [caused by animals], which is another issue,” bureau Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) said, adding that the living conditions and distribution of wildlife are the bureau’s main concerns.
The bureau would also initiate monitoring plans for those species, Lin added.
A study in 2000 suggested that there were between 250,000 and 300,000 macaques, while other evidence suggests that their number has been growing steadily, said National Tunghai University Department of Life Sciences professor Lin Liang-kong (林良恭), who attended the meeting.
However, a more comprehensive survey about the species’ living conditions is needed, he added.
FARM RAIDS
While many farmers have complained about monkey raids, only a few of them have harmed the animals, because they think the macaques look like humans, Lin Liang-kong said, adding that experts have been helping farmers install electric fences around their farms to keep out wild animals.
People who hunt protected animals could face a prison term of between six months and five years or a fine between NT$200,000 and NT$1 million (US$6,577 and US$32,891) for breaching the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法), bureau Conservation Division Director Hsia Jung-sheng (夏榮生) said.
People who hunt non-protected animals could face a fine of between NT$60,000 and NT$300,000 under the act, she said.
The bureau needs to finish related paperwork before it can formally announce the changed protection statuses of wildlife, Hsia added.
Four factors led to the declaration of a typhoon day and the cancelation of classes yesterday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. Work and classes were canceled across Taiwan yesterday as Typhoon Krathon was forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the country. However, northern Taiwan had only heavy winds during the day and rain in the evening, leading some to criticize the cancelation. Speaking at a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Chiang said the decision was made due to the possibility of landslides and other problems in mountainous areas, the need to avoid a potentially dangerous commute for those
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
PRO-CHINA SLOGANS: Two DPP members criticized police officers’ lack of action at the scene, saying that law enforcement authorities should investigate the incident Chinese tourists allegedly interrupted a protest in Taipei on Tuesday held by Hong Kongers, knocked down several flags and shouted: “Taiwan and Hong Kong belong to China.” Hong Kong democracy activists were holding a demonstration as Tuesday was China’s National Day. A video posted online by civic group Hong Kong Outlanders shows a couple, who are allegedly Chinese, during the demonstration. “Today is China’s National Day, and I won’t allow the displaying of these flags,” the male yells in the video before pushing some demonstrators and knocking down a few flagpoles. Radio Free Asia reported that some of the demonstrators
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
RSS