A march calling on Taiwanese society to safeguard wildlife and ecological sustainability by reining in stray animals is to be held in Taipei tomorrow, the Walk for Wildlife Alliance said yesterday.
The Walk for Wildlife Alliance is hoping to reduce the total number of stray dogs and cats, strengthen the management of stray dogs, particularly in ecological hotspots, and raise public awareness about wildlife conservation, Wu Yi-ta (吳奕達), the march’s general coordinator, told a news conference.
The government has invested more than NT$300 million (US$9.33 million) in managing and reducing stray animals to date, but data from the past few years show that the number of stray dogs continues to rise, with 159,697 recorded in 2022, Wu said.
Photo: CNA
“Stray cats also cause significant damage to the environment, yet there is no investigative data on them in Taiwan,” Wu added.
The increasing number of stray animals poses a significant threat to wildlife, especially endangered species in ecological hotspots, Wu said, adding that about 25 percent of leopard cats released into the wild eventually die due to dog attacks.
In terms of public awareness, alliance founder Lee Tsung-chen (李宗宸) said that domestic dogs and cats have been listed as invasive species in Taiwan since 2022, but none of the textbooks in Taiwan address their ecological impact.
“We hope that by including such examples in the school curriculum, members of society will understand the ecological damage that can result from abandoning dogs and cats,” he said.
Lee hoped this idea could be adopted to better educate the public and help prevent pet abandonment or the release of pets into the wild.
Following the march’s debut last year that drew about 4,000 people, Wu said that the alliance expects more people to join the event this year, as there is “growing public attention” on issues related to wildlife conservation.
He also hopes it would have more of an impact than the first march last year, which focused on the conflict between invasive species — primarily domestic dogs and cats — and wildlife.
The Ministry of Agriculture responded to that march by launching a three-month pilot project aimed at protecting leopard cats by relocating stray dogs from ecological hotspots, but the alliance said it had disappointing results.
Tomorrow’s march is to start at 1:30pm outside the Legislative Yuan, loop around nearby streets and return by 2:30pm.
It is to feature a conservation-themed market, and exhibitions and talks would be held throughout the afternoon, the organizer said.
On Wednesday, the Ministry of Agriculture said it was already working to solve the issues called out by the alliance.
The key problem is the limited capacity of local governments to implement wildlife protection measures in biodiversity hotspots, Department of Animal Welfare Deputy Director Chen Chung-hsing (陳中興) said.
The ministry, which opposes feeding all animals in the wild, is working with local governments to promote feeding bans in these hotspots. However, since “biodiversity hotspot” is not a legal term, governments must impose fines on feeding based on the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法), he said.
The ministry has also helped local governments increase space for stray dogs, Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) said.
“The issue must be tackled systematically, with efforts from multiple angles, and different organizations must reach a consensus to resolve the issue,” Lin said.
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
Taiwan plans to cull as many as 120,000 invasive green iguanas this year to curb the species’ impact on local farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture said. Chiu Kuo-hao (邱國皓), a section chief in the ministry’s Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, on Sunday said that green iguanas have been recorded across southern Taiwan and as far north as Taichung. Although there is no reliable data on the species’ total population in the country, it has been estimated to be about 200,000, he said. Chiu said about 70,000 iguanas were culled last year, including about 45,000 in Pingtung County, 12,000 in Tainan, 9,900 in
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
RSS