Pingtung s bell fruit farms sustain heaviest losses in 10 years
02/20/2021 10:03 PM
File photo courtesy of Pingtung County s Department of Agriculture
Taipei, Feb. 20 (CNA) The recent cold spells that have gripped Taiwan since last December have caused the plantations of bell fruits, commonly known as wax apples, in Pingtung County to suffer their heaviest losses in 10 years, the county s Department of Agriculture said Saturday.
Some 800 hectares of crops have been damaged, with losses estimated at NT$282 million (US$10.09 million), the department said, citing figures from the end of last December to mid-January this year.
Cheng Yung-yu (鄭永裕), who heads the county s agriculture department, said the county s bell fruit harvest usually takes place during this period.
2020/12/18 16:45 (Pingtung County Government photo) (Pingtung County Government photo) TAIPEI (Taiwan News) A massive green iguana that frightened a Taiwanese woman on Monday, has been arrested and brought to justice, in southern Taiwan after a long lizard hunt was launched. On Monday (Dec. 14), woman surnamed Liu (柳) posted her harrowing encounter with a giant green iguana as it sunned itself on a guardrail. The post soon went viral, with over 300 comments, including some describing it as a little dinosaur. In response, Pingtung Department of Agriculture Director Cheng Yung-yu (鄭永裕) said that he asked the Wild Bird Society of Pingtung County to try to use lassos to catch it and set up traps near the spot where it had last been spotted. On Thursday (Dec. 17), Cheng announced the rapacious reptile had been arrested and brought to justice, and will be euthanized, thus ending what Mirror Media called
1.5-meter long green iguana captured in southern Taiwan
12/17/2020 11:07 PM
1.5-meter long green iguana captured in Pingtung. Photo courtesy of the Pingtung County Government
Pingtung, Dec. 17 (CNA) Residents in Taiwan s southernmost Pingtung County captured a green iguana estimated to be about 1.5-meter long on Wednesday, local authorities said Thursday, after the photo of the creature went viral on social media.
The orange and brown-colored creature, affectionately named little dinosaur, was found basking in the sun on a fence of a local drainage ditch in Wandan Township, the Pingtung County Government said.
A photo of the animal has spurred heated discussion since it was made public on Monday by a passersby who was spooked by the creature with spike-like scales.
Botulism suspected behind bird deaths: Pingtung official
By Chen Yen-ting / Staff reporter
Sightings of dead ducks and other large birds in wetland areas in Pingtung County’s Donggang Township (東港) have sparked concern among local wildlife advocates and led to calls for immediate action by authorities.
An outbreak of botulism, caused by the neurotoxin-producing
Clostridium botulinum, last year caused the death of a large number of wild birds near the mouth of the Kaoping River (高屏溪), a situation that authorities worry might recur.
Populations of ducks, herons and various species of the
Charadriidae family have in the past few years increased in the wetlands near Dapeng Bay (大鵬灣) and elsewhere in the township.