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.
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