Twenty-five people have been questioned and more than 700 birds rescued in an investigation into alleged pigeon racing gambling in Tainan’s Madou District (麻豆), city officials said yesterday.
Millions of New Taiwan dollars in bets have been placed over the past year by unlicensed pigeon racing clubs, the Tainan Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Corps said in a news release.
There are concerns about animal abuse as birds are often released at sea and only a few reach their destination, police said, adding that fraud, intimidation and ransoming of birds is common in pigeon racing operations.
Photo courtesy of Tainan Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Corps
Police and the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office formed a joint task force to investigate an unlicensed club in Madou, they said.
The club has organized a multistage race every spring, summer and fall since last year, with wagers totaling more than NT$100 million (US$3.22 million) last year, police said.
There were 1,108 pigeons in the club’s spring race this year, but only 43, or 3.88 percent, made it to the finish, police said.
Investigators raided the club’s office on June 16, arresting the main suspect, a 63-year-old surnamed Chuang (莊), and five employees, police said, adding that 734 pigeons were seized along with other material.
In the following days, authorities questioned the owners of two shops specializing in leg bands for racing pigeons and 17 people suspected of betting on races, they said.
The people are suspected of illegal gambling and contravening the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法), they said.
Chuang was released on bail of NT$200,000.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
Greenpeace yesterday said that it is to appeal a decision last month by the Taipei High Administrative Court to dismiss its 2021 lawsuit against the Ministry of Economic Affairs over “loose” regulations governing major corporate electricity consumers. The climate-related lawsuit — the first of its kind in Taiwan — sought to require the government to enforce higher green energy thresholds on major corporations to reduce emissions in light of climate change and an uptick in extreme weather. The suit, filed by Greenpeace East Asia, the Environmental Jurists Association and four individual plaintiffs, was dismissed on May 8 following four years of litigation. The
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
The New Taipei City Government would assist relatives of those killed or injured in last month’s car-ramming incident in Sansia District (三峽) to secure compensation, Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said yesterday, two days after the driver died in a hospital. “The city government will do its best to help the relatives of the car crash incident seek compensation,” Hou said. The mayor also said that the city’s Legal Affairs, Education and Social Welfare departments have established a joint mechanism to “provide coordinated assistance” to victims and their families. Three people were killed and 12 injured when a car plowed into schoolchildren and their
RSS