Animal rights advocates yesterday staged a sit-in in front of the Forestry Bureau to protest a hearing on allowing special interest groups, including indigenous people, to hunt wildlife.
Protesters read out statements and shouted slogans such as “We oppose the bureau opening up for illegal hunting,” “Stop killing endangered wildlife” and “Animals cannot speak up for themselves, so we have to speak for them.”
Wildlife are living creatures and resources belonging to all citizens, not meat to be eaten by special interest groups, said Chu Tseng-hung (朱增宏), an executive at the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan.
Photo: CNA
Also present were members from the Taiwan Animal Equality Association, the Taiwan Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the mLife Conservationist Association, the Animal Protection Association of ROC and the Taiwan Dog Lovers’ Association, the groups’ news release said.
Chu said they are opposed to the bureau, as an agency under Council of Agriculture, opening a backdoor for certain sectors to enter protected forests and other preserved areas to illegally hunt wildlife.
“Hunting is not conservation. We are totally against permitting illegal hunting, which the bureau is proposing to do through a ‘self-management policy,’” Chu said.
The groups held the protest as a hearing about proposed wildlife hunting regulations for indigenous communities went on inside the bureau.
The animal rights advocates entered the venue after a brief sit-in, and some members charged the podium to voice their objections, temporarily interrupting the proceedings.
In their news release, the groups said there is a need to protect animals from cruelty, such as steel-jaw traps.
If conservation programs are not enforced, all of Taiwan’s protected wildlife species would become extinct, the groups said.
“Under current law, there is no legal way for anyone in the nation to hunt wildlife. The only exceptions are cases in which a person is attacked by an animal and must protect their own life, and instances of animals causing serious damage to agricultural production,” the groups said, citing examples of farmers repelling Formosan macaques.
The groups said these laws are enforced in all locations, even on private land, as they are meant to protect wildlife.
Meanwhile, the bureau and indigenous groups cited Constitutional Interpretation No. 803 issued by the Council of Grand Justices last year, which stressed respect for traditional practices and cultures.
The interpretation stated that protected wildlife species should not be among the animals indigenous groups hunt unless there are special circumstances, the indigenous groups said.
“The court permitted hunting of animals only for traditional rituals and for ‘own use,’ but this is not clearly defined,” they said.
Animal rights advocates said that these gray areas are prone to abuse, and urged government agencies to issue clear regulations on what hunting tools can be used, what “own use” means, and whether the meat can be consumed by family members and people within the community.
The advocates demanded that bureau officials assess the situation and collect data on how many animals people are permitted to hunt, as well as other details such as which species, and share it with the public.
“How will the indigenous communities enforce ‘self-management’ ... and what oversight mechanism will be set up to monitor the process?” they asked.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to