Yangminshan office fined for buffalo killing woman
By Yang Kuo-wen and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
The Yangmingshan National Park Management Office was on Jan. 12 fined NT$3.96 million (US$139,378) in damages to be paid to four descendants of a woman surnamed Chen (陳), who was on Aug. 11, 2018, attacked by a water buffalo in the park and died 15 days later, the Taiwan High Court said.
The then-86-year-old Chen was walking along a path in the Qingtiangang (擎天崗) area when a grazing water buffalo in heat attacked her.
Chen’s sons and daughters accused the national park office of mismanagement and failing to maintain the park’s facilities to keep visitors safe, as the incident leading to Chen’s death was preceded by multiple incidents in which water buffaloes had injured visitors.
The sudden deaths of dozens of wild buffaloes in Yangmingshan National Park over the past four months have triggered questions about their protection and how much human intervention might be necessary.
Since the 1930s, water buffaloes have been grazing on mountain grasslands on Yangmingshan (陽明山), when the Japanese colonial administration set up a pasture in the Qingtiangang (擎天崗) area to graze cattle and other livestock.
In 1952, the government allowed local farmers to use the area as grazing ground for their water buffaloes, which they kept for heavy-duty farm work.
As time passed and water buffaloes were gradually phased out of their traditional
Malnutrition likely cause of death of water buffaloes taipeitimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from taipeitimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Malnutrition behind Yangmingshan water buffalo deaths: park
12/21/2020 10:56 PM
Photo courtesy of Yangmingshan National Park.
Taipei, Dec. 21 (CNA) The initial findings of an investigation into the recent deaths of 25 wild water buffaloes in Yangmingshan National Park in Taipei indicate that the animals were victims of malnutrition, the spokesman for the park headquarters said on Monday.
At a meeting of experts held by the Taipei City Animal Protection Office earlier in the day to discuss the issue, contagious diseases, pesticides and fences on the mountains were ruled out as causes of death, Chang Shun-fa (張順發) told CNA.
A composite environmental factor was blamed, he said, noting that the experts agreed according to preliminary indications that the deaths were associated with insufficient nutrition in the food sources of the breeding sites of the wild water buffaloes.