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Government to conduct census on protected animals
2010/07/30 21:12:37 |
Taipei, July 30 (CNA) The Forestry Bureau said Friday that it would conduct a census on the number of protected animals and implant chips in them after an animal protection group urged government action to enforce wildlife conservation.
"The census will begin immediately," said Lin Kuo-chang, chief of the bureau's Wildlife Conservation Section.
Lin was addressing complaints by the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST) , which questioned the effect of the government's enforcement of the Wildlife Conservation Law, saying that abusive treatment of protected animals is still rampant.
Lin agreed with a suggestion by the EAST to implant chips in the protected animals, saying that it is "the only feasible way" to solve the problem.
The chips record the data of the protected animals and prevent owners from bringing in new animals when the original ones die, he said.
But he also said there are 3,000 kinds of protected animals and the census will be difficult.
"We'll first start with bears, big cats and primates," he said.
Lin noted that an amendment to the Wildlife Conservation Law in 1994 stipulated that improper keeping of protected animals would be banned in three years, adding that Yeliu Geopark and a monkey park in Hsinchu County are no longer keeping tigers or protected monkeys.
But according to the EAST, the law was not strenuously enforced and abusive treatment and private breeding are evidence of violations of the law.
EAST Director Chen Yu-min said that the society received 10 calls in nearly two years about protected animals being kept in captivity.
She cited as examples two animals -- a Malay bear and a Formosan black bear -- that were in captivity in a Chiayi County villa.
In a film shot by the society, the Malay bear was seen pacing uneasily back and forth and licking its fur, while the Formosan black bear was slumping with listless eyes.
Chen said that when British animal experts saw the film, they said the Malay bear could be on the verge of collapse, and the animal eventually went berserk and died.
The British experts also noted that the Formosan black bear had its paw torn open and needed immediate care.
Chen said that in Tainan County in southern Taiwan, one farm owner even violated the Wildlife Conservation Law by breeding tigers privately, and the county government only fined the owner NT$40,000 and then let the owner keep them legally. (By Yang Shu-min and Lilian Wu) enditem/bc
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