Taipei, Jan. 9 (CNA) Lawmakers across party lines and animal rights activists appealed Monday for the well-being of rabbits and hares ahead of the start of the Year of the Rabbit and urged people not to turn the year into a "disastrous year for rabbits."
‘LEGAL FIREWALL’: The new law would combat the harvesting and sale of organs in China and Cambodia, where the forced practice continues, lawmakers saidBy Chen Cheng-yu and Liu Tzu-hsuan / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Animal rights advocates on Thursday called on the government to consider the needs of land crabs before planning construction projects or maintenance work, as crabs in Kenting National Park (墾丁國家公園) are often at risk when they cross Provincial Highway 26 to lay eggs in the ocean.
New Power Party Chairwoman Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) held a news conference to warn about the issue as the land crab breeding season approaches.
“Ecological assessment has been taken more seriously than before for road and river improvement projects, but still has room for improvement,” Chen said.
For instance, a road construction project led by the Directorate-General of
Environmental campaigners yesterday criticized a proposal to downgrade the conservation status of two coastal regions, calling it a “backdoor to development.”
The proposal was put forth by the Construction and Planning Agency as part of a required five-year review of its coastal zone management plan, which was put in place five years ago.
In the review published on Feb. 18, the agency proposes revising grading criteria for first and second-order conservation zones, citing difficulty in adhering to rules preventing “use of resources that will change the condition of resources” in first-order areas.
It specifically proposes downgrading two zones: Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin habitats along