"Little Chiao" (小喬), a female brown bear who lived at the Taipei Zoo for nearly two decades, was euthanized yesterday after medical staff confirmed a recurrence of a mammary tumor, the zoo said.
The bear, estimated to be at least 24 years old, "left peacefully" following an animal welfare assessment earlier in the day that included imaging tests, the zoo said in a news release yesterday.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Zoo
Samples taken from the swelling on Little Chiao's lower abdomen were preliminarily diagnosed as malignant tumor cells, showing that lung metastasis lesions had expanded since March.
According to the Taipei Zoo, staff had recently observed the bear experiencing shortness of breath, fatigue, loss of appetite, and redness and swelling at the site of a previous surgery.
The zoo said continuing treatment would have required another mammary tumor removal surgery while the bear's lung condition continued to worsen, which would have made it impossible to maintain a good quality of life for the animal.
The decision to euthanize Little Chiao was reached after careful discussion by the animal welfare assessment team, the zoo said.
Little Chiao was brought to Taipei Zoo in 2006 after being abandoned by a circus.
The animal became well known for its lively behavior which included swimming, digging and exploring its surroundings, the zoo said.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
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