Vehicles transporting pigs to and from slaughterhouses are required to install GPS devices for retroactive tracking in the event that African swine fever enters the nation and owners who fail to do so can be fined from June, the Council of Agriculture said yesterday.
The idea of tracking pig transportation vehicles with GPS was broached by veterinary academics in a meeting in January, Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said yesterday as the Central Emergency Operation Center for preventing the disease held its ninth meeting.
As of yesterday, owners of 1,325 vehicles had applied to install the device, while applications for about 100 other vehicles had not been received, Chen said.
Those who submit applications to the council before Sunday can receive a subsidy for the cost of installation and data transmission fees for two years, while those not observing the deadline would have to pay the costs themselves, he said.
The council earlier this month amended the Regulations on Animal Transportation (動物運送管理辦法) and the Regulations on Slaughter Operations (屠宰作業準則) and asked local governments to help advertise the policy, Animal Health Research Institute section head Deng Ming-chung (鄧明中) said.
Starting from June, hog transporters could face a fine of between NT$3,000 and NT$150,000 (US$97 and US$4,861) if they do not install a GPS device or are found to have turned it off while they are at work, Deng added.
In related news, council data showed that the number of illegal hog products seized at customs has reduced from 62 cases per week in mid-December last year to 28 cases last week.
However, Chinese pork products intercepted at customs continued testing positive for the disease, showing that the outbreaks in China have not been mitigated as its authorities have claimed, Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister Huang Chin-cheng (黃金城) said.
Beijing is likely still underreporting outbreaks, as it has only reported 118 cases since August last year, a total lower than the number of cases in Vietnam, which reported 209 cases in a month, Chen said.
Asked by a reporter to comment on Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) visit to China in recent days, Chen advised Han to bring back more information about African swine fever outbreaks in China.
If the disease enters Taiwan, the nation could incur as much as NT$200 billion of losses in the hog industry, which would far outweigh the NT$5.2 billion of orders that Han has claimed to have secured in China, he added.
‘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
RSS