A demonstration is planned for today to advocate for amendments to the Constitution to further secure the rights of animals, the Animal Protection Legislation Movement Alliance said yesterday.
The alliance said in a statement that the march, expected to draw more than 1,000 people, is to urge the government to look beyond existing animal protection laws and ensure animal rights in the Constitution.
The Legislative Yuan’s Constitutional Amendment Committee is considering proposals for amendments.
The alliance said that committee should recognize that animals have similar perceptual abilities to humans, and that protecting them is a national obligation.
Taiwan in 1998 became the 54th country to give animals legal protections, and several other laws have followed, including the Animal Industry Act (畜牧法), the Veterinary Drugs Control Act (動物用藥品管理法) and the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法), the alliance said.
However, these laws have been inadequate in providing measurable protection to animals, it said.
Today’s event has an informal start time of noon on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building, and is scheduled to officially begin at 1:30pm with a media briefing and re-enactments of animal cruelty situations performed by actors.
The march is scheduled to proceed at 2pm and arrive at the Legislative Yuan at about 3pm, before returning to Ketagalan Boulevard, where animal rights organizations are to give speeches and lectures.
The alliance is a coalition of eight animal rights groups, while today’s march is to involve more than 70 groups supporting animal welfare, including student clubs and private organizations.
‘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