The government is taking lessons from the recent mass die-off of endangered black-faced spoonbills in southern Taiwan and studying the feasibility of forming a permanent team of specialists to deal with similar wildlife conservation issues in the future, the Council of Agriculture said yesterday.
Council Vice Chairman Tai Cheng-yao (戴振耀) made the remarks during an international symposium on black-faced spoonbills held in Tainan County.
Tai noted that despite strenuous efforts to save them, 73 black-faced spoonbills have died from botulism poisoning since the first reported cases Dec. 9 in the Chiku Wetland.
He said that designating a black-faced spoonbill conservation area in Tainan County is not enough; the nation has to learn from the experiences of other countries to reduce the incidence of mishaps among endangered birds.
Tainan County Magistrate Su Huan-chi (蘇煥智) expressed his appreciation at the symposium to those who had helped rehabilitate the birds that were saved and said that the symposium will serve as a reference for future rescue operations.
Experts from Japan, the US and Taiwan participated in the two-day meeting to discuss black-faced spoonbill conservation, identification of illness in the birds and subsequent contingency measures, and management and analysis of their habitat.
Meanwhile, with the weather becoming warmer, bird watchers in Tainan have reported that the number of endangered birds is decreasing.
They said that from past experience, this is about the time that spoonbills start to migrate north and that the number would normally decrease dramatically by the end of the month.
By the end of May, all the birds will likely have left.
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
RSS