January 2000

Taiwan's tigers languishing in cages

WSPA (The World Society for the Protection of Animals), together with its Taiwanese member society Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST), is concerned at the uncertain future facing 22 hybrid tigers currently languishing in cages kept at the back of Ocean World, a popular aquarium theme park near Taipei, Taiwan.

"The tigers, most of which are around 13 years old, have been kept in captivity for their entire lives," says Ms Georgina Stephenson, Publicity Co-ordinator, WSPA Australia & New Zealand.

Until recently, half of the tigers had been locked up in metal shipping crates on a disused car park before complaints from WSPA and other organisations led to them being moved to join the other tigers kept at the park.

These tigers are the tragic legacy of Taiwan's efforts to breed tigers to supply the trade in traditional Chinese medicine. A ban on breeding tigers was passed several years ago; this requires breeders to keep the tigers in their possession. The resulting conflict between the costs of keeping these animals and the lack of income from them have led to dreadful neglect, with tigers having become unrealisable assets.

Victor Watkins, WSPA's Wildlife Director, said, "These tigers are hidden from public view in a row of individual cages behind a sold wood fence; they are out of sight and literally going out of their minds, with nothing but a barren rusty cage to look at and pace around in. A corrugated iron roof is the only protection that they have from the elements, in a country where temperatures can reach 36 degrees in the Summer."

The Taipei Representative Office in London, with whom WSPA co-operates closely, is as anxious as WSPA to resolve this issue. Unfortunately, the Government has yet to respond to WSPA's repeated offers of assistance to help provide the tigers with a more suitable home, including establishing a tiger sanctuary in Taiwan. The Government claims that the tigers will be moved to the Pin Tung Wildlife Sanctuary in the next few months, with the first of the tigers due to be moved there in the next few weeks.

"However, the facility is said to be full to bursting point with the animals that are there already," says Ms Stephenson. "This means that the quality of life for these tigers may not necessarily be much different from what they endure at present."

With little or no information having been made available by the Government, WSPA remains concerned for the future of these tigers and is calling for a detailed response from Taiwan's Council of Agriculture as to exactly what provisions have been made.

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Available on request:

• Colour transparencies.
• Interviews available with Pei-Feng Su, WSPA Field Officer.

Please contact:

Anne Lloyd-Jones, WSPA, on (02) 9901 5277 or 0404 066 498 during business hours, or e-mail annelj@wspa.org.au.