Taipower Co said it might seek financial compensation from a Kaohsiung man whose botched attempt to capture an iguana sparked a power outage and left the lizard bounty hunter covered in second-degree burns.
The 22-year-old man, surnamed Chou (周), and another person were filmed attempting to capture an iguana near Kaohsiung’s Linyuan Industrial Park (林園工業區) on Saturday.
In the video, which was widely circulated online, Chou stands on what appear to be pipes below power lines near a drainage ditch and lifts a pole with a snare attached to it to capture the lizard.
Photo courtesy of a reader
When the pole makes contact with the power lines, Chou bursts into flames and collapses, while his friend quickly attempts to put out the fire with a piece of clothing. Others nearby called for help.
A firefighter said that when his unit arrived, they found Chou in a serious condition, and rushed him to a hospital.
Although he had second-degree burns over more than 40 percent of his body, Chou was stable and conscious, the firefighter said.
They also extinguished a small fire caused by the incident, he added.
Firefighters confirmed that Chou was an “iguana bounty hunter” who had planned to capture the reptile, enticed by the local government’s NT$250 payout per iguana.
Taipower officials said the incident caused a power outage at the industrial park, affecting three petrochemical plants for more than four hours and another facility for more than five hours, leading to work stoppages and financial losses.
“These are large petrochemical plants at the industrial park, which have high power demands, requiring high-voltage electricity wires. We had set up a special grid line to support 69,000 volts into the Linyuan Industrial Park, but now it has been damaged, and we have to repair it,” Taipower said in a statement.
Taipower officials said they are considering seeking compensation from Chou for financial losses to the plants and damage to its power lines.
Green iguanas, native to Central and South America, damage crops and upset the local ecology. Their importation was banned in 2015 and they were declared an invasive species in 2020.
The Kaohsiung Agriculture Bureau said that local governments have offered NT$250 to NT$300 per iguana captured to control the reptiles’ population.
While the bounties have enticed many to try their hand at capturing the lizards, bureau official said they must first undergo training and obtain certification to hunt iguanas.
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
Reports of Taiwanese going missing, being detained or interrogated, or having their personal liberties restricted in China increased about fourfold annually last year, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. Last year, 221 Taiwanese who traveled to China were reported missing, were detained and interrogated, or otherwise had their personal freedom restricted, up from 55 the previous year, the council said. Reopening group tours to China would be risky, as it would leave travelers with no way to seek help through official channels after Beijing shut down dialogue between the associations tasked with handling cross-strait tourism, the MAC said. Taipei’s Taiwan Strait Tourism
RSS