A retiring farmer in Yunlin County on Friday drove his 12-year-old water buffalo to an animal sanctuary, sparing his long-time farming partner from the slaughterhouse.
Huang Sung-yung (黃松勇), the owner of the last water buffalo in Huwei Township (虎尾), retired after about 50 years working the fields using traditional draft animals.
With water buffalo having served him so well over the past half-century, Huang, 74, said that his final farming partner had earned a well-deserved retirement, so he began looking for an animal sanctuary for her to live out the rest of her days.
Photo: Lin Min-chen, Taipei Times
With the help of the Huwei Township Office and Beisi Village (北溪) Warden Chen Chun-chi (陳俊旗), Huang found a water buffalo sanctuary in nearby Tuku Township (土庫).
Water buffalo were once ubiquitous on Taiwan’s farms, with the nation having 329,928 of the animals in 1956, but their numbers have dwindled with mechanization.
In 2021, only 199 were left, Ministry of Agriculture data showed.
Animals replaced by machines were once almost certainly destined for the slaughterhouse, but several water buffalo sanctuaries, run privately or by local authorities, have been established over the past few years, offering a more humane retirement option.
Huang’s buffalo is to share the sanctuary with two other residents — nine-year-old An Hsin (安心) and 14-year-old A Le (阿樂).
Lin Chia-liang (林佳良) said he set up the sanctuary on his family farm last year.
Water buffalo made a huge contribution to agriculture in Taiwan and deserve to spend the rest of their lives in a comfortable environment, Lin said.
The animals at the shelter have a large field where they can wander, and eat grass and corn stalks, Lin said, adding that he dug a pond for them to cool off in when the temperature rises.
Former owners of the water buffalo are always welcome to visit and the shelter is also open to visitors, who can feed the animals, he said.
Lin said he also grows and sells rice to cover the cost of taking care of the retired water buffalo.
He said that the new resident would be tethered for a while for safety purposes and the ropes would be removed after one or two months when she gets used to her new home.
Patting his former farming partner on the back, Huang left his water buffalo with a few words of encouragement.
“You won’t be alone here. Go and enjoy your retirement,” he said.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
New Taipei City prosecutors have indicted a cram school teacher in Sinjhuang District (新莊) for allegedly soliciting sexual acts from female students under the age of 18 three times in exchange for cash payments. The man, surnamed Su (蘇), committed two offenses in 2023 and one last year, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. The office in recent days indicted Su for contraventions of the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例), which prohibits "engaging in sexual intercourse or lewd acts with a minor over the age of 16, but under the age of 18 in exchange for
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS