Stray dogs are attacking birds in the Siangshan Wetlands (香山濕地) in recent days, the Hsinchu City Wild Birds Association (新竹市野鳥協會) said Thursday.
Many transcontinental migratory waterbirds stay in the wetlands every year in spring and autumn, and the birds are particularly at risk when the tide is high, causing them to come onto the shore, the association said.
Photo courtesy of Hsinchu City Wild Birds Association via CNA
With the number of stray dogs and cats in Taiwan rising, the risk to the birds is likely to increase, it said, adding that it would be detrimental to the ecosystem if strays continue to kill birds in the wetlands.
Photo courtesy of Hsinchu City Wild Birds Association via CNA
In response, the Hsinchu City Animal Protection and Health Inspection Office said it will increase patrols near the wetlands, trapping any strays it finds and taking them to shelters.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
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