Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/02/06
By: Yang Sz-ruei and Chi Jo-yao

Photo courtesy of Tainan’s Cultural Affairs Bureau

Taipei, Feb. 6 (CNA) A former colonial water purification pond, part of an old waterworks in southern Taiwan, has become home for Taiwan leaf-nosed bats and is an increasingly popular site with visitors.

The water purification pond was built during the Japanese colonial period as part of the old Tainan Waterworks in the southern city. It was decommissioned in 1981, and designated a national-level historic site by the Ministry of the Interior in 2005.

Tainan’s Cultural Affairs Bureau (CAB) Director-General Yeh Tse-shan (葉澤山) said that when the bureau conducted repairs at the site in 2011, it was found that endemic Taiwan leaf-nosed bats had taken up residence in the purification pond.

Yeh said the cave-like structure and humid environment of the facility make it an ideal location for bats and about 400 have made the pond their home. As a result, the bureau has decided to turn the facility into a bat conservation site.    [FULL  STORY]