Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) on Tuesday urged the city Agriculture Bureau to allot more funding next year for beehive removal and snake-catching, after the city spent NT$25 million (US$820,283) on the operations so far this year.
Central government subsidies accounted for NT$5 million of the funds and the city government’s secondary reserve funds made up NT$7.5 million.
The city has applied to the Legislative Yuan to increase the allotted secondary reserve funds by NT$12.8 million to NT$20.3 million.
Photo courtesy of the Taichung City Government Agriculture Bureau
The bureau and the Taichung Fire Department had agreed that the fire department would respond to calls from residents about snakes and beehives, Agriculture Bureau Director Tsai Ching-chiang (蔡精強) said.
The bureau responds to reports through outsourced contractors from 8am to 10pm, while the fire department handles reports from 10pm to 8am, Tsai added.
Contractors must respond within 30 minutes of a reported snake sighting, catch the reptile and report to the bureau within four hours, he said.
As for beehives, contractors must also respond within 30 minutes, but have seven days from the initial report to remove the hives, Tsai said, adding that the companies are obligated to notify the bureau after the removal.
However, the bureau should carry out the bulk of beehive removals and snake-catching in accordance with the Ministry of the Interior’s Regulations for Handling Snake Catching or Beehive Removal for the People by the Fire Department (消防機關協助執行捕蜂捉蛇為民服務處理原則), which was implemented last year.
Lu said that her administration was forced to use the secondary reserve funds, as former Taichung mayor Lin Chia-lung’s (林佳龍) administration had not allotted the necessary funds.
Such operations should have their own funding, as the secondary funds are reserved for natural disasters, Lu said.
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