Taiwan plans to cull as many as 120,000 invasive green iguanas this year to curb the species’ impact on local farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture said.
Chiu Kuo-hao (邱國皓), a section chief in the ministry’s Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, on Sunday said that green iguanas have been recorded across southern Taiwan and as far north as Taichung.
Although there is no reliable data on the species’ total population in the country, it has been estimated to be about 200,000, he said.
Photo courtesy of Hsieh Chi-liang
Chiu said about 70,000 iguanas were culled last year, including about 45,000 in Pingtung County, 12,000 in Tainan, 9,900 in Chiayi, 6,500 in Kaohsiung, 5,000 in Changhua and about 100 in several other administrative regions.
This year, thanks to NT$20 million (US$608,606) in funding allocated by the government, the ministry has set a goal of culling 120,000, he said.
Based on its experience in eradicating the African sacred ibis, the ministry is relying mainly on professional hunting teams to cull the iguanas, which have established their presence in nine administrative regions.
About 300 people were recruited for the teams at hiring events held late last year in Tainan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties, while additional events would be held in Chiayi and Pingtung counties in the coming weeks, he said.
Shortly after the Lunar New Year, the ministry is also planning to release a new agricultural damage reporting app, which would include a section where farmers can post information on iguana sightings, he added.
In addition to threatening native species, iguanas are considered to be an agricultural pest and have caused widespread damage to red bean, gourd and other vegetable crops in central and southern Taiwan.
As an incentive, the ministry is offering professional hunters a bounty of NT$500 for every iguana of at least 30cm (snout to vent) they kill and NT$200 for every one shorter than 30cm.
For the general public, the bounties for iguanas are half that amount — NT$250 and NT$100, he said.
Chiu said his confidence in the iguana eradication effort drew in part from Taiwan’s success in removing African ibises, which were largely brought under control over a five-year period.
Compared with 2019, when 18,000 of the wading birds were culled, it is now estimated that only about 50 of them remain in Taiwan, he said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain
When Paraguayan opposition lawmaker Leidy Galeano returned from an all-expenses-paid tour of six Chinese cities late last year, she was convinced Paraguay risked missing out on major economic gains by sticking with longtime ally Taipei over Beijing — a message that participants on the trip heard repeatedly from Chinese officials. “Everything I saw there, I wanted for my country,” said Galeano, a member of the newly-formed Yo Creo party whose senior figures have spoken favorably about China. This trip and others like it — which people familiar with the visits said were at the invitation of the Chinese consulate in Sao Paulo
RSS