Ownership of Formosan rock macaques is to be banned from next month, with owners required to forfeit or register such pets by March, the Council of Agriculture said yesterday.
The macaque would be added to a list of animals prohibited from ownership, importation or exportation, effective on Sept. 1 at the earliest, the council said.
Those who legitimately obtained such animals prior to the rules going into effect would be allowed to microchip and register them with their local agriculture department before March next year, or face a fine of NT$50,000 to NT$250,000 and confiscation of the animal, Department of Animal Industry Deputy Director Chiang Wen-chuan (江文全) said.
Photo: CNA
Macaques are not suitable as pets because they are naturally sociable animals and are prone to transmitting dangerous diseases to humans, Chiang said.
Forestry Bureau data show that there were 12 registered macaques in captivity as of Sept. 1, 2020.
When asked to report how many had been registered as of Monday, municipalities listed seven, three of which were in government care, Chiang said.
However, animal rights advocates believe there are far more macaques being raised illegally than the official numbers suggest.
A study by the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan found more than 150 reports of macaques being kept in captivity since they were removed from the protected animal list in January 2019.
They were mostly rescues or captured to protect crops, but some baby macaques are also sold as pets for as much as NT$20,000, Environment and Animal Society deputy director Chen Yu-min (陳玉敏) said.
After they were removed from the list, many people thought they were allowed to keep macaques in captivity, Association for Coexistence with Macaca Cyclopis secretary-general Lin Mei-yin (林美吟) said.
Some have been kept in horrible conditions with small cages or forced to interact with visitors, Lin said, adding that she has even heard reports of owners withholding water so the animals would remain small.
Macaque ownership is finally being outlawed after persistent lobbying by animal rights groups, she said, adding that she hopes the new law would make up for years of inaction.
Additional reporting by Yang Yuan-ting
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
NUMBERs IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
RSS