Taiwan Today

Conservationists warn that steps must be taken quickly to preserve several birds and animals that are unique to Taiwan. Also involved is the ecological balance of the island's rugged Central Mountains

Taiwan was once one of Asia's richest reservoirs of wildlife. The island's population density was small - compared with the mainland - until the 18th century. Only a quarter of the land is arable. That kept the farmers down on the plains of the west coast and left the mountains to the animal and to the aborigines who hunted them for food. The men were few and the animals many. The latter remained plentiful down to comparatively recent times.

Now the wildlife is fast disappearing. There is concern about this among both government and private conservationists. No less an authority than Charles A. Lindbergh has visited Taiwan and urged that immediate steps be taken to protect endangered species. Considering that conservation has barely begun, it is much too early to evaluate results or predict whether civilization can be kept from crushing Taiwan's fascinating fauna.

One small example of the ecological problems involved is to be found in the Taiwan efforts to make forests more valuable by cutting over trees of small economic importance and replanting with varieties that bring higher prices. Squirrels inflict damage on the new stands. So in 1964 the Taiwan Forestry Bureau established a bounty on squirrels. Between that June and December of 1968, TFB received 146,466 tails of flying and tree squirrels. Probably the ecological balance was disturbed. The marten and money cat populations have declined sharply.

The government recently banned DDT because of its long-lasting ecological effects. Hunters on the west coast have reported the disappearance of ring-necked pheasants as a result of the use of pesticides in the lowlands.

Some animals are being hunted into extinction because of the supposed medicinal magic of various portions of their anatomy. The gall bladder of the bear is prized. So is the penis of the deer and the otter. Deer horn is in demand as a tonic and aphrodisiac. Macaque skeletons, goat legs and the meat of pangolin and civet are sought. The fetus of muntjac and the testicles of the wild boar are valued. Wildlife animals are preferred to those raised in captivity. As the supply decreases, the price goes up. No longer hunting food to any large extent, the aborigines may be sorely tempted by the offers of collectors and herb medicine shops and practitioners.

Some birds are hunted for inclusion in medicinal preparations. Others are prizes for stuffing. The list includes hawks, owls, pheasants and such songbirds as orioles and pittas. Also stuffed are squirrels, pangolin, civet, muntjac, serow and sambar. Some dealers claim they sell to schools and perhaps they do. But large numbers of animals find their way onto the counters of souvenir shops. Sun Moon Lake stores are crowded with stuffed animals and birds. The rare Mikado pheasant is supposed to be protected from hunting. But these beautiful birds are still killed and sold and some reportedly have been exported.

Aborigines have been hunting through the Taiwan uplands for hundreds of years. They move freely through the national forests and are armed with about 5,000 guns, including some old muzzleloaders. Not so many kill for food these days. The animals they hunt are too valuable to be eaten. Snaring and trapping also are carried out. Some of the dwindling number of clouded leopards have been trapped. Peasants, wild boar and macaques are trapped or snared.

A bird research team of Tunghai University estimated that tens of thousands of shrikes are trapped each year by farmers of the Hengohun peninsula as the birds follow a migratory route from Korea to the Philippines. They are sold to peddlers who fry and sell them as a delicacy. Yet shrikes are supposed to be protected as a beneficial species.

Hunting by sportsmen is not too serious a problem because of the small number of sports hunters and the dwindling supply of game. The principal targets are waterfowl, ring-necked pheasant, dove, partridge, hare, wild boar and muntjac.

Wildlife is not protected. On a field trip, Hunter H. T. Eu counted 231 recent kills of muntjac, more than 104 of serow and 60 of sambar deer in central and southern Taiwan. He estimates that several hundred sambars are killed annually and that the take of serow and muntjac exceeds 1,000 each. Squirrels and birds are thinned out by the tens of thousands.

A game law to give adequate protection to all species would help preserve Taiwan's heritage of animals and birds. Meanwhile, hunting of endangered species might be banned for at least five years. The animals would include the clouded leopard, yellow-throated marten, Formosan sika deer, hairy-footed flying squirrel, Chinese otter, Chinese money cat and flying fox. The only fully protected species at present is the flying squirrel. The leopard, marten and sika deer are already close to extinction.

Rare species are the Formosan hare, Formosan striped squirrel, Formosan black bear, Siberian weasel, small Indian civet, ferret-badger, sambar and Formosan pangolin. Hunting might be banned or an open season permitted only once in several years. The special species of serow ought to be protected from all bunting, as supposedly it is at present.

Hunting could be seasonally restricted for the Formosan macaque, red giant flying squirrel, white faced flying squirrel, common tree squirrel, crab-eating mongoose, wild boar, Reeve's muntjac and jem-faced civet. Year-round hunting is now permitted for the macaque, red flying squirrel, tree squirrel and civet. The white-faced flying squirrel is now banned from hunting and has been becoming more numerous.

Of birds, 111 species-most of them migratory vagrants-are rare and their hunting probably should be forbidden. Another 69 species are ranked as uncommon and need to be protected until their numbers increase. Thirteen species are found only in Taiwan and will be hunted at the risk of universal extinction. They are the Formosan hill partridge, Swinhoe's blue pheasant, Mikado pheasant, Formosan blue magpie, yellow tit, Formosan barwing, Formosan laughing thrush, white-eared sibia, Steere's babbler, Formosan yuhina, Styan's bulbul, Formosan whistling thrush and Johnson's bush robbin.

Beneficial species total 48 and should be protected until the ecology in which they are involved has been sufficiently studied. Of the 382 species of birds that occur on Taiwan, seasonal hunting could be permitted for about 100. In need of special protection because of demand are the Mikado pheasant, Swinhoe's blue pheasant, Formosan blue magpie, yellow tit, Formosan whistling thrush, gray-faced buzzard, Chinese grass owl, ruddy kingfisher, black-naped oriole, maroon oriole, rufus-bellied blue flycatcher, serpent eagle, collared Scops owl, brown shrike, ring-necked pheasant, Muller's barbet, blue-winged pitta, gray-throated minivet, golden mountain thrush and yel1ow wagtail.

There is need for an up-to-date census of the wildlife resources of Taiwan. Information should include distribution, habitat conditions, numbers and population dynamics. Cooperation between a university and the government might provide an effective avenue of approach. U.N. assistance could be requested in recruiting specialists.

Too little is known about the economics and ecology of Taiwan wildlife. The value of live, stuffed and medicinal sales cannot be guessed. There is no inventory and no record of specimens. Records of hunting kills - especially by the aborigines - are incomplete or nonexistent. Knowledge is necessary to regulation.

The Taiwan Forestry Bureau is an ideal tent under which to place a Department of Forest Recreation and Wildlife Management. TFB already administers about half of the land area of Taiwan. This is precisely the area where most wild animals are found. These are the grasslands, forests, mountains, lakes and streams that provide the habitat for the forms of life that are threatened.

Police are interested in wildlife but know little about it. They need information and training. Possibly Taiwan also ought to have a small force of game wardens. Young aborigines might be the ideal candidates for such positions.

Education must always be at the core of wildlife preservation. No matter what the enforcement, the first line of defense is the people. If they are interested in preserving animal life, more than half the battle is won. The Taiwan message must be addressed to aborigines, wildlife traders and collectors, farmers, hunters and those involved in the herb medicine industry.

Wildlife refugees could be established in national parks and in areas where animals and birds are threatened. Already designated by the Taiwan Provincial Government in cooperation with the Ministries of Economic Affairs and Interior are 26 scenic areas and historic sites where hunting is forbidden or restricted. The area totals more than 307,000 hectares. Wildlife has already shown an increase in such populated tourism areas as Sun Moon Lake.

Charles Lindbergh has expressed grave apprehension about the future of rare and unique species in Taiwan, the Philippines and other Asian countries of the Far East. Not many other foreign conservationists have taken any interest in Taiwan wildlife. On the whole, the problem belongs to the Chinese. Of some 400,000 visitors to Taiwan last year, only a handful were even aware that this island is or ought to be one of the world's great game refuges.

The elephants and lions and antelopes of Africa make the headlines. They are actually easier to protect because they are big and because of all that publicity. Many tourists of today go to Africa to shoot photographs rather than to shoot to kill. Taiwan does not have any difficulty with safari hunters. A few foreigners have joined in shooting boar. That's about all, and boar hunts are largely a thing of the past. The wild pigs are too scarce and it is necessary to go too deeply into the wilderness to find them.

To a considerable extent, Taiwan is destroying its precious wildlife because it doesn't know any better. The people of the prosperous plain - intent on building businesses, industries, houses and wringing ever larger crops from the soil - are concerned with domestic animals and pets, not with leopards and game birds. Even the draft buffalo, once so common on the streets of Taipei, has been relegated to the countryside. Chickens are frowned upon because the roosters crow. This is animal life in the city. The wild ones are to be found only in the zoo.

Unfortunately, neglect of wildlife may mean the destruction of many species. This is the danger to which Chinese and a few foreign conservationists are trying to awaken Taiwan. The island's mountains hold life forms that once gone win never be seen again anywhere.