A necropsy of a female Formosan black bear found dead last month near a mountain village in Hualien County indicates it had most likely fallen from a cliff and was unable to defend itself from attacks by other wildlife, which led to its death.
No bullet wound was found, nor was there any other trace of bullets, said Forestry Bureau Hualien Forest District Office head Yang Jui-fen (楊瑞芬), who presented a report on the bear on Thursday, discounting rumors that it might have been shot by poachers or local villagers.
Blood tests also ruled out rabies, canine distemper, canine parvovirosis, canine adenovirus Type I, coronavirus, influenza A and other common viral infections, the report said.
The bear’s carcass was found on March 17 near a chicken coop outside the Lamuan Community, a Bunun village in Jhuosi Township (卓溪), with its lower abdomen torn open and some internal organs missing.
The carcass was transferred to the Animal Health Research Institute in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水) for examination.
The necropsy found that the carcass had signs of a fall, severe internal bleeding, a laceration on the right chest and gnaw marks on the lower body, Yang said.
A Forest Bureau team also conducted a field inspection, which found that the ground under a nearby cliff showed traces of debris having rolled down from above, Yang said.
During its fall, the bear likely suffered a blow to its chest, given the laceration and internal bleeding, and was likely in a weakened or unconscious state when other animals discovered it and began to gnaw on it, which led to the bear’s death, Yang said.
Black bear expert Huang Mei-hsiu (黃美秀), who was contacted after the bear was found, thought that the bear might have been lactating and urged bureau officials to search for a cub.
However, the institute’s report said that there were no signs that the bear was lactating and it was not pregnant at the time of death, Yang said.
Forestry Bureau officers and Lamuan villagers stepped up patrols in the area and set up motion-trigger cameras to check for a cub, but no sign was found.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS