A sit-in protest has taken place in Taipei against a potential ban on over 950 species of animals, making it illegal for them to be imported to Taiwan or to be kept as pets. Owners are worried exotic pets that have become like family members could be taken away.
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00:00Around a hundred people gathered in front of the legislature
00:03to protest a potential ban on over 950 species of animals,
00:07making it illegal for them to be imported into Taiwan
00:10or to be kept as pets.
00:12Those species include some types of snakes
00:15and other reptiles,
00:16as well as other animals like meerkats,
00:18animals that many protesters here own
00:21and say have come to feel like family members.
00:24Many are worried their pets may be taken away.
00:30The turtle I'm keeping has been classified as one of the banned species.
00:34It's been with me for seven years.
00:35It was supposed to be with my family for a long time,
00:37but all of a sudden, it's not allowed to keep it.
00:40All of a sudden, legal things have become illegal.
00:42Yes, so everyone came out to express their opinions.
00:45Because I think it has to do with pets,
00:48because it's already involved with my family,
00:50so I think I have to come out to defend it.
00:53I think if you want to ban this pet,
00:55you have to have enough evidence,
00:57not that if you don't understand it enough,
00:58you have to ban it.
01:00This is a very strange and outrageous thing.
01:03Protesters further argue that banning animals
01:06that are already actively sold here
01:08will only drive those markets underground,
01:10creating more illegal activity.
01:13They also say the ban could lead to pet owners
01:15abandoning their animals,
01:16releasing them into the wild.
01:18This is something that's created problems for Taiwan in the past,
01:21with green iguanas becoming an invasive species
01:24after many people who owned them as pets abandoned them.
01:27I think with this new policy,
01:29there will only be more species that become invasive species.
01:34If I don't want to keep them,
01:35if I don't have a place to help others,
01:39I can't give them to the government.
01:41So I can only choose to release them.
01:43Yet some disagree,
01:45with animal rights activists protesting days earlier
01:48in support of the ban,
01:49saying some of these animals on the list
01:51are not suitable to be kept as pets.
01:53And a representative of the Agriculture Ministry,
01:55who also showed up to the protest,
01:57said current owners of species on the blacklist
02:00would not be forced to give up their pets.
02:02They simply wouldn't be able to buy new ones.
02:05Years of research have been put into deciding
02:07which animals to ban,
02:08and the policy is still in the public discussion phase.
02:26Still, people are gathered here today
02:28passionate about protecting their pets,
02:30and protesting against a potential ban
02:32that they fear would take away their rights
02:34and those of their pets.
02:36Justin Wu and Keynes Kuranta for Taiwan Plus.