Animal rights advocates and legislators yesterday protested an application by Leofoo Village Theme Park to import three giraffes from Mexico, citing the premature deaths of eight giraffes at the park over the past decade.
The park in Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西) claims to be the first zoo in Asia to be combined with a theme park and resort hotel, with more than 1,000 animals from about 70 species.
However, it has been fraught with controversy since its opening in 1976, the Taiwan Animal Equality Association and Life Conservationist Association told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: CNA
After just three years of operation in 1979, African sacred ibises acquired by the zoo from the US escaped into the wild. Their population has since exploded to more than 8,000 by the end of the previous decade, becoming a problematic invasive species that the Forestry Bureau in 2018 decided to begin culling.
In 2004, the park drew criticism for importing and breeding white tigers, as the rare variant reportedly suffers from genetic defects. All white tigers are descended from a single captured tiger and are therefore propagated by drawing from a limited gene pool.
Then, in 2015, a giraffe gave birth prematurely in front of visitors to the park after mating with her biological sibling. The calf died shortly afterward.
Leofoo Village over the past 10 years has continuously bred and imported giraffes, Animal Skies researcher Sera Lim (林婷憶) said.
Eight of them have died of disease or accidents, the majority of which before the age of 10, even though their average life expectancy is 27, she said.
Many died after being infested with Haemonchus contortus, a blood-feeding parasite also called the “barber’s pole worm” that affects grazing animals, Lim said, adding that it must be treated with dewormers and antibiotics.
One giraffe on a loan from Taipei Zoo died of the condition in 2019 at the age of four after a year-and-a-half in Leofoo Village’s care, despite medication and monitoring, she said.
The giraffe enclosure has also proven to be dangerous, she said, citing life-ending injuries sustained by two giraffes after falling, one that was euthanized in 2015 after breaking its leg and the other killed after falling in a wet enclosure during a typhoon in 2019.
Then in January, the same giraffe that gave birth in front of visitors in 2015 died at 15 years old of enterotoxemia caused by a bacterial infection, leaving only one giraffe at the zoo, Lim said.
Her mate had died earlier in 2015, an autopsy revealing plastic bags in his stomach, she said, adding that it was likely due to illicit feeding by resort guests, as there was no supervision.
Based on this record, association chief executive officer Lin Yi-shan (林憶珊) raised alarm over Leofoo Village’s request to import another three giraffes from a zoo in Mexico and urged the government to reject its application.
As of press time last night, Leofoo Village had not responded to a request for comment.
Of all the zoos in the nation, only Taipei Zoo has obtained certification as an educational site as defined by the Environmental Education Act (環境教育法), Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如) said.
There are plans to amend the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法) to clarify the rules requiring all zoos wishing to import protected wildlife to obtain this certification, Tsai said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by