News
Taiwan seizes smuggled birds
Taiwan's Coast Guard confiscated some 1,500 birds smuggled from China as the country steps up efforts to guard against deadly avian influenza, officials said yesterday.
The birds, smuggled from the southeast Chinese city of Fuzhou, were found aboard a Panama-registered vessel in the island's central Taichung harbor Friday night, Coast Guard officials said.Television footage showed workers wearing full protective gear as they unloaded the birds from the ship.
"The birds, if not endangered species, will be destroyed soon," Lin Fu-an, a senior officer of the Coast Guard Administration, told reporters.
The seizure was made after the Coast Guard was tipped off that someone was attempting to use a cargo ship to smuggle precious fowls and pets from China into Taiwan via third destinations. The ship had sailed around Japan's Ishigaki Island before coming to Taiwan.
A Chinese sailor surnamed Chen told authorities he had struck a deal with a local bird shop over the sale of the smuggled birds at around NT$500 each, but police suspect some crew may have involved in the illicit trade.
The case has been turned over to the Taichung Prosecutors' Office. Chen has been charged with smuggling as well as with violating wildlife conservation and prevention of infectious disease from animals regulations.
It was the second time Taiwan has seized birds smuggled from China since the Coast Guard launched a dragnet in August to crack down on the illegal trade.
CGA officials reported that the coast guard has chased 929 Chinese fishing vessels out of Taiwan waters and seized 1,489 kilograms of catch from poachers over the past two months. They also seized 4,500 smuggled fowls aboard a ship in Kaohsiung Harbor in August.
Also yesterday, police raided an illegal chicken slaughter house in Taichung city.
Center for Disease Control Director Steve Kuo said earlier this week that health authorities here will invest some NT$4.4 billion on research and vaccines over the next four years.
The WHO has warned the H5N1 strain of bird flu may mutate, acquiring genes from the human influenza virus that would make it highly infectious, possibly killing millions in a global pandemic.
Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has asked government agencies to come up with preparatory measures against bird flu, which has been discovered among birds in China and several other Asian countries.
