Going Ape: Why the demise of a baboon has sparked outrage in Taiwan

There’s a lot of tension in Taiwan — and it’s not over its President Tsai Ing-wen’s trip to Central America that will transit through the United States. Believe it or not, people in the small island nation off the mainland of China are upset over the death of a baboon after being on the loose for over two weeks.

Animal rights activists and some lawmakers are miffed with the administration, accusing the authorities of animal cruelty.

Monkey madness

Eighteen days ago, an olive baboon was on the loose in Taiwan’s Taoyuan city. The primate was believed to be an inhabitant of the zoo in the area.

The baboon was first spotted on 10 March near a local factory in the central Taoyuan area, Jhensing Borough Warden Huang Chih-chieh said. The baboon was then spotted next on 18 March. The baboon zig-zagged around Pingzhen, Xinwu, and Yangmei districts, and even made an appearance in Hukuo District, Hsinchu County.

Finally after several unsuccessful attempts, the Taoyuan Department of Agriculture started to hunt for the animal on 23 March. They continued to look for the animal and their searches yielded positive results on Monday and the search party, including several men with dart guns, cornered the baboon in an abandoned house.

The team was able to capture the primate with a tranquiliser dart. However, it died shortly after, with officials saying the animal had been found with gunshot wounds. BBC reports that the authorities said that they didn’t notice the injuries, which has now prompted anger from the locals.

Also read: Japanese city under attack! How monkeys have become a menace in Yamaguchi

Additionally, there are discrepancies on what happened at the time of the capture of the baboon. In a press conference the director of the Animal Protection Office, Wang Te-chi said that when animal control officers arrived at the house where the baboon was hiding, it was dark and they were unable to locate the animal. Officers then stepped out to get a flashlight when they found a licensed hunter, identified as Lin, who had stepped inside the house and shot the animal. Te-chi added that officials had not realised that the baboon had been shot and only found it to be injured. He added that the team was unaware that Lin was carrying live ammunition on him.

However, the licensed hunter, who is now being questioned by the police, has a different account to share. He said he had been by the Hsinchu County Agriculture Department — a claim they deny. The hunter also added that he had sought permission before shooting. But learnt later that the man who gave him approval was not from the Taoyuan Department of Agriculture.

Outcry and anger

The death of the baboon has caused anger among the locals with many questioning why the officials had not noticed the animal’s injuries. Also, they questioned the techniques used in the hunt for the animal.

Taiwan’s Business Today also noted that locals took issue with the “flippant” reaction of an agriculture bureau official, who was caught on camera as he photographed the wounded animal, saying, “I want my preschool daughter to be able to tell her classmates, ‘My dad caught the baboon, I didn’t lie to you’.”

Responding to the criticism, Taoyuan’s mayor Simon Chang in a statement said, “Some of our colleagues did not manage the situation in a prudent and professional manner. They have failed to uphold our respect for animal welfare which is expected of agricultural authorities.”

A New Power Party (NPP) legislator said that the entire incident was a “tragedy of Taiwan’s disorderly administration.”

“The death of the baboon was not a farce. It was a tragedy resulting from a disorderly administration,” NPP legislator Chiu Hsien-chih was quoted as saying by Taipei Times. “The problem in Taiwan is that everyone has something to say when it comes to animals, but nobody has the authority to do anything for them.”

Interestingly, the news of the baboon’s demise overshadowed that of Taiwan’s former president Ma Ying-jeou’s visit to China during which he said, “People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are Chinese people, and are both descendants of the Yan and Yellow Emperors.”

However, the speech did not draw much attention on the Taiwan side of the strait. An online survey posted by a radio DJ asking which was the more important issue — the ex-Taiwan president’s visit to China or the baboon dying —drew close to 2,000 responses with 96 per cent choosing the baboon story over the visit.

With inputs from agencies

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