The Central Election Commission (CEC) is to hold hearings on Sept. 24 to examine referendum proposed by animal rights groups on banning snare traps and pigeon sea races.
There would be a morning hearing for the referendum proposed by Taiwan One Ecology Coalition spokesperson Pan Han-chiang (潘翰疆) in July, while the hearing for Taiwan Bird Rescue Association Secretary-General Wu Yu-hsin’s (吳雨心) referendum on banning pigeon sea races would be held at 2:30pm the same day, the CEC said, adding that both hearings allow auditing by no more than 20 people.
The commission said it has listed a few important issues on the agenda for discussion.
Photo: Lee Wen-hsin, Taipei Times
The snare trap ban proposal states that the use, possession, sale, production, display, export and import of wild boar snare traps should be “completely prohibited,” but that could clash with indigenous people’s right to hunt wild animals under the Indigenous Peoples Basic Act (原住民族基本法) and cannot be sent for referendum, the commission said.
The proposal might not constitute “an initiative on legislative principles” as specified in Subparagraph 2, Paragaph 2, Article 2 of the Referendum Act (公民投票法), as current regulations and amendments have already stipulated a “prohibition subject to permission” principle for controlling the use of wild boar snare traps, it said.
The words “brutal,” “inhuman,” “abuse,” “rampant” and “unscrupulous hunters” might not be objective and are not neutral words, the CEC added.
The proposal mentions that “the industrial chain of poached wild animal meat is rampant” and that “game hunting for food has caused concern over variant viruses and potential spread of human diseases via cross-species transmission,” apparently attributing illegal poaching and potential epidemics to wild boar snare traps, which might not be factual, it said.
More evidence is required to substantiate the proposal’s statements that “modified wild boar snare traps are just smaller traps,” and that “the modified snare traps promoted by the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency are as dangerous a hunting device as the original version, as it has not yet been proved that the modified wire diameter, pressure and limiter could prevent it from trapping other wild animals,” the commission said.
Meanwhile, the pigeon sea race ban proposal should specify whether “pigeon racing on the sea” is equivalent to “pigeon racing on the high seas,” as the proposal of a referendum is limited to “one case, one issue” according to the Referendum Act, it said.
Further clarification is required as to whether the “pigeon racing on the sea” and “pigeon racing on the high seas” can be regarded as connected and supplementary to each other and thus interpreted as “one issue,” otherwise it might clash with the act, the commission added.
The proposal mentioned that “pigeon sea races often involve local bigwigs and politicians who are in cahoots, resulting in the authorities taking no action, but the word “cahoots” has negative connotations, it said.
The proposal’s statement that “we believe only the strong public opinion reflected in a referendum can stop the brutal and immoral illegal gambling” might be misleading and misrepresent the referendum’s intention, as it links pigeon sea racing to illegal gambling, the commission said.
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