Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Bao-ji (陳保基) yesterday visited one of the first companies in Taiwan, Shih An Farms (石安牧場), to have used EU standard techniques for raising egg-laying hens humanely and said that the council would promote the practice across the nation.
In February, civic animal welfare group Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST) revealed that an inhumane and unhealthy practice was prevalent in many chicken coops in Taiwan: that of raising two to four egg-laying hens in a battery cage only slightly bigger than a sheet of A4 paper and often injecting the birds with antibiotics or other drugs to enhance their growth.
According to the European Union Council Directive 1999/74/EC passed in 1999, the EU took more than ten years to phase out and ban the conventional battery hen cages across Europe.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
About 36.5 million egg-laying hens are raised in Taiwan each year, but most are kept in small cages without enough space to move, the company said, showing that the new hen-rearing facilities built according to the EU standard contained a nesting area, a resting space, a scratching area and a playground, with each hen being given at least 750cm2 of moving space.
“We are happy to see a company that can already achieve the EU standard,” Chen said. “And we hope that the example this company sets can attract more people to adopt more humane practices of hen-raising.”
However, when responding to whether Taiwan will also adopt regulations to ban the use of battery cages, Chen said: “It took the EU countries about twenty years to achieve the current situation of banning battery hen cages, but not all chicken coops have installed such advanced facilities.”
“Our research institutes will begin conducting research to figure out whether the imported facilities are adaptable to the climate and hen-raising practices of Taiwan, and after at least one-and-a-half years [the time needed for an egg-laying hen to grow] if the results are positive, the council will promote such practices” Chen said, adding that he “hopes to see the industry move in that direction.”
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
The Chinese wife of a Taiwanese, surnamed Liu (劉), who openly advocated for China’s use of force against Taiwan, would be forcibly deported according to the law if she has not left Taiwan by Friday, National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials said yesterday. Liu, an influencer better known by her online channel name Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣), obtained permanent residency via marriage to a Taiwanese. She has been reported for allegedly repeatedly espousing pro-unification comments on her YouTube and TikTok channels, including comments supporting China’s unification with Taiwan by force and the Chinese government’s stance that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.” Liu
FATE UNKNOWN: The owner of the dog could face a fine of up to NT$150,000 and the animal could be euthanized if he cannot show that he can effectively supervise it A pit bull terrier has been confiscated by authorities after it yesterday morning bit a motorcyclist in Taipei, following footage of the same dog in a similar attack going viral online earlier this month. When the owner, surnamed Hsu (徐), stopped at a red light on Daan District’s (大安) Wolong Street at 8am, the dog, named “Lucky,” allegedly rolled down the automatic window of the pickup truck they were riding in, leapt out of the rear passenger window and attacked a motorcyclist behind them, Taipei’s Daan District Police Precinct said. The dog clamped down on the man’s leg and only let go
RSS