The Taiwan One Ecology Coalition yesterday urged prompt legislation to ban spring snare traps as it extended an invitation to President William Lai (賴清德) to attend a gathering among people with pets injured by such traps.
The gathering is to be held at the Huajiang Pet Park (華江寵物公園) in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋) on Saturday next week, with people who had their pets injured by spring snare traps joining together to share their stories to advocate for banning the traps.
The coalition yesterday presented an invitation card to a representative from the Presidential Office, inviting Lai to participate in the gathering with his adopted dog, Ban-ban (斑斑), who lost a leg from being caught in a spring snare trap.
Photo: CNA
The group presented postcards written by more than 200 students of Harvard University and MIT to urge Lai to ban the traps were presented.
Animals caught by spring snare traps have their circulation cut off in the trapped limb, leading to tissue death in the limb, Chinese Animal Welfare International Exchange Association executive supervisor Lee Chih-chiang (李志強) said, citing the example of the dog Hei-hei (黑黑), present at the event, whose leg required amputation due to a spring snare trap.
Animals caught in traps might suffer severe tissue damage, or fractured or broken bones even if they manage to escape, Lee said.
Animals unable to escape generally die after seven to 10 agonizing days, he said.
Although the Forestry and Natural Conservation Agency has developed improved traps, which it said would not cause as much harm to animals, they are not much safer than spring snare traps, Lee said.
Tests conducted by the coalition showed that the improved traps’ 12cm jaws can easily trap the toes of adult Formosan black bears or the paws of bear cubs and cause injuries.
Animal rights advocate Yang Hsiu-ling (楊秀玲) said spring snare traps are not traditional indigenous hunting tools, as they had not been used in Taiwan until about a decade ago.
Coalition representative Huang Tai-shan (黃泰山) said the group hoped Lai could exercise his influence as the head of state in pushing legislation to ban spring snare traps, urging the president to ask the Cabinet to put forward amendments to the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法).
That would benefit many wild animals and dogs similar to Ban-ban, Huang said.
The coalition said the spring snare trap ban campaign has bipartisan support, including Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Tai-hua (林岱樺), Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯), DPP Legislator Kuo Yu-ching (郭昱晴) and KMT Legislator Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷).
However, the draft bill proposed by the ministry has been stalled for about five years in Cabinet meetings and has yet to be sent to the legislature for review, it said.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry 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 Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
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
RSS