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.
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
Weather conditions across Taiwan are expected to remain stable today, but cloudy to rainy skies are expected from tomorrow onward due to increasing moisture in the atmosphere, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). Daytime highs today are expected to hit 25-27°C in western Taiwan and 22-24°C in the eastern counties of Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung, data on the CWA website indicated. After sunset, temperatures could drop to 16-17°C in most parts of Taiwan. For tomorrow, precipitation is likely in northern Taiwan as a cloud system moves in from China. Daytime temperatures are expected to hover around 25°C, the CWA said. Starting Monday, areas
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
Taiwan has recorded its first fatal case of Coxsackie B5 enterovirus in 10 years after a one-year-old boy from southern Taiwan died from complications early last month, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. CDC spokesman Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) told a news conference that the child initially developed a fever and respiratory symptoms before experiencing seizures and loss of consciousness. The boy was diagnosed with acute encephalitis and admitted to intensive care, but his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he passed away on the sixth day of illness, Lo said. This also marks Taiwan’s third enterovirus-related death this year and the first severe
RSS