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.
‘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
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as