Photographer and film director Chi Po-lin (齊柏林), best known for his 2013 documentary Beyond Beauty: Taiwan From Above (看見台灣), shocked fans when he was recently reportedly found to be in possession of endangered turtles.
Police said that Chi in July posted pictures on Facebook of the turtles, which netizens identified as yellow pond turtles — an endangered species — and promptly notified the authorities.
Police said they showed the photographs to experts at Taipei Zoo, who confirmed that the turtles are class-2 endangered animals.
Photo: courtesy of Taipei Police Department
Officials from the Taipei City Animal Protection Office went to Chi’s residence to investigate, but did not find the director.
After receiving permission from Chi’s parents to enter his home, the officials found and seized 11 Chinese box turtles, also known as yellow-margined box turtles, and two yellow pond turtles.
According to the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法), people planning to keep or raise protected animals must apply for a permit with local authorities.
Failure to do so will result in fines of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 as well as seizure of the animals.
The animal protection office said Chi is out of the country, but it will arrange a date later for Chi to appear in court and explain the incident.
Tseng Chiung-yao (曾瓊瑤), the producer of Chi’s films, on Thursday said that Chi’s parents love to hike and tend to pick up animals they find on trails.
They have been raising those turtles for more than 10 years and Chi’s post of the turtles’ pictures on Facebook is proof that the family was not aware they are endangered animals, Tseng said.
Police said the parents claimed the turtles were Chi’s and that he began raising them after his pet dog died.
Chi’s parents did not know where the turtles came from, they added.
According to Forestry Bureau statistics, over the past three years conservation officials had seized 6,800 Chinese box turtles, while more than 5,000 yellow pond turtles had been smuggled to China.
Bureau officials said one yellow pond turtle can fetch more than NT$10,000, making them particularly vulnerable to smugglers.
The bureau advised the public to check its Web site for a list of endangered species to avoid unintentional violations and fines.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS