Members of a pet ownership alliance and dozens of pet owners yesterday staged a sit-in outside the Legislative Yuan protesting the Ministry of Agriculture’s plan to ban the ownership or importation of 955 more wild animals.
The Department of Animal Welfare on Jan. 3 discussed adding 955 animals to the ministry’s List of Animals Banned from Being Owned, Imported or Exported.
Animals banned from import or ownership include 22 categories, such as the spectacled caiman (a crocodile-like reptile), all species in the Dasypodidae family (armadillos), Castor genus (beavers) and the Canidae family, except for domestic dogs, the department said.
Photo: CNA
Animals banned from ownership include eight categories, such as the Burmese python, raccoons, and all types of the Chelydridae family (snapping turtles), it said.
About 70 percent of the 955 animals on the list have already been banned from being imported since a revision to the Foreign Trade Act (貿易法) was enacted in 2023.
The protesters yesterday urged the ministry to reconsider the policy.
Ko Hsin-ping (柯心平), an animal expert and member of the alliance, said the list lacked scientific evidence and legal support, adding that many of the animals on the list have been sold in the domestic market for years.
Ko said he is concerned that the ban would create a black market for the animals, making government management more difficult, while having a negative impact on animal welfare.
As the alliance has a meeting with a legislator on Wednesday, the alliance would decide its next step after it sees the government’s response, he said.
Instead of banning animals, the government should promote reasonable regulations and provide clear guidelines, he added.
Department of Animal Welfare Director Chiang Wen-chuan (江文全) said the ban is being discussed because of the risk the animals pose to the nation’s ecology and public safety.
A pet classification management system is necessary to tighten control measures on high-risk animal species, he said.
The classification management system is still being discussed, and the department would take into consideration different opinions and make its decision based on scientific evidence, he said.
Animals on the list would not be euthanized, but there must be better management on the breeding, importation and selling of these animals, he said.
Whether a public hearing would be held is yet to be decided, he added.
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