Circus acts featuring lions, tigers and bears may soon be a thing of the past, as the legislature yesterday passed on first reading an amendment to the Wildlife Conservation Law (野生動物保育法).
Human performers are capable of putting on a circus show without animals, legislators said at an Economics and Energy Committee meeting.
The amendment, sponsored by DPP Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (
"Circuses do not need animals to be fun and successful," Tien said.
Tien cited the Cirque du Soleil as an example of a successful circus that performs without animals on stage.
Tien pointed to several incidents in the past few years to support her argument. Two years ago, a circus bear mauled a three-year-old boy at a farm in Tainan, resulting in the boy's arm being amputated. In 2002, a Bengali tiger on a traveling show from Las Vegas bit off a woman's hand. And this year, two wolves and three bears were found at an abandoned resort farm, left over from a circus from Mongolia which dissolved in Taiwan.
"Whether we are talking from the point of view of public safety, disease prevention or animal welfare, this amendment to stop circus animals from being imported into Taiwan is necessary," Tien said.
Tien also said that banning wild animals trained for the circus from entering Taiwan was a sound policy as it would help wildlife conservation and improve the nation's image abroad.
"Most important, by exposing our children to wild animals through circus acts, we are setting an incorrect example of how humans should interact with animals," Tien said.
The committee also reviewed an amendment sponsored by DPP Legislator Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷), seeking to amend the Wildlife Conservation Law to compensate farmers whose crops are damaged by Formosan macaques -- a protected animal. The measure, which was opposed by the Council of Agriculture, did not pass.
The Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union yesterday vowed to protest at the EVA Air Marathon on Sunday next week should EVA Airway Corp’s management continue to ignore the union’s petition to change rules on employees’ leave of absence system, after a flight attendant reportedly died after working on a long-haul flight while ill. The case has generated public discussion over whether taking personal or sick leave should affect a worker’s performance review. Several union members yesterday protested at the Legislative Yuan, holding white flowers and placards, while shouting: “Life is priceless; requesting leave is not a crime.” “The union is scheduled to meet with
‘UNITED FRONT’ RHETORIC: China’s TAO also plans to hold weekly, instead of biweekly, news conferences because it wants to control the cross-strait discourse, an expert said China’s plan to expand its single-entry visa-on-arrival service to Taiwanese would be of limited interest to Taiwanese and is a feeble attempt by Chinese administrators to demonstrate that they are doing something, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said the program aims to facilitate travel to China for Taiwanese compatriots, regardless of whether they are arriving via direct flights or are entering mainland China through Hong Kong, Macau or other countries, and they would be able to apply for a single-entry visa-on-arrival at all eligible entry points in China. The policy aims
Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan would issue a decision at 8pm on whether to cancel work and school tomorrow due to forecasted heavy rain, Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said today. Hsieh told reporters that absent some pressing reason, the four northern cities would announce the decision jointly at 8pm. Keelung is expected to receive between 300mm and 490mm of rain in the period from 2pm today through 2pm tomorrow, Central Weather Administration data showed. Keelung City Government regulations stipulate that school and work can be canceled if rain totals in mountainous or low-elevation areas are forecast to exceed 350mm in
EVA Airways president Sun Chia-ming (孫嘉明) and other senior executives yesterday bowed in apology over the death of a flight attendant, saying the company has begun improving its health-reporting, review and work coordination mechanisms. “We promise to handle this matter with the utmost responsibility to ensure safer and healthier working conditions for all EVA Air employees,” Sun said. The flight attendant, a woman surnamed Sun (孫), died on Friday last week of undisclosed causes shortly after returning from a work assignment in Milan, Italy, the airline said. Chinese-language media reported that the woman fell ill working on a Taipei-to-Milan flight on Sept. 22
RSS