Resident decries 'poacher's paradise' after rare deer shot in Kenting

Taipei, Sept. 25 (CNA) A Kenting resident in Pingtung County has criticized local authorities for not doing enough to protect wildlife from poachers after a Formosan Sika deer was shot dead for its antlers on Thursday.

The person living in the Kenting area, which covers Kenting National Park that is famed for its beautiful scenery and wildlife, on Tuesday shared a photograph on Facebook of a Formosan Sika deer that had been shot and apparently left for dead after its antlers had been removed.

"Kenting is a paradise for poachers," the post said.

The resident of Sheding, a community in Hengchun Township, told CNA that they heard a gunshot in the early hours of Thursday morning and later discovered the deer carcass around 20 meters behind their house, abandoned in the grass.

"This is the third time this month I heard gunshots," the resident said, adding that they hoped the authorities would "stop dismissing poaching as being caused by stray dogs."

Responding to media questions on Tuesday, Kenting National Park Headquarters Deputy Director Chen Chun-shan (陳俊山) confirmed that park personnel had found a dead male Formosan Sika deer in the location mentioned by the resident.

Its antlers had been sawed off and it had a gunshot wound under its right foreleg, Chen said.

"Poaching Formosan Sika deer in a national park is punishable by an NT$3,000 (US$94) fine under Article 13 of the National Park Law," he said.

In addition, if illegal firearms are involved, offenders will be prosecuted under the Firearms, Ammunition, and Knives Control Act, punishable by a prison sentence of three to 10 years and a fine of up to NT$7 million, according to Chen.

In a video statement, Chen Yuan-fa (陳元發), the deputy head of the Eighth Division of the Seventh Special Police Corps, said that the police expanded the scope of patrols in conjunction with national park authorities at the beginning of this year.

"Our division obtained relevant intelligence in March this year," Chen Yuan-fa said. "Currently, we have tracked down illegal poaching involving four cases and four suspects."

Two of these cases were prosecuted under the National Park Law, while the other two cases were designated as illegal firearm violations, the deputy division leader said.

"Our division will continue to hunt down and make arrests in the future," he added.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture's Taiwan Livestock Research Institute, the Formosan Sika is a unique subspecies of deer native to Taiwan characterized by its "beautiful white spot coat."

The Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association says on its website that the small population of wild Formosan Sika deer was "pushed to the brink of extinction" due to habitat destruction in the second half of the 20th century and became extinct in the wild in 1969.

However, following the launch of Kenting National Park's Formosan Sika Deer Restoration Program in collaboration with Taipei Zoo in 1984, the population of this indigenous deer species has gradually increased, the Taipei-based non-governmental wildlife association said.

There are more than 2,000 Formosan Sika deer in the Hengchun area, Kenting National Park said in July.