Want China Times
Date: 2015-07-26
By: CNA and Staff Reporter
A private zoo in Madou district in Tainan in southern Taiwan is set to be closed for good in
Chiu Hsi-ho and Xiao He put on a show for visitors, July 24. (Photo/CNA)
January next year, with the owner complaining that the country’s newly revised Animal Protection Act will make his business too challenging to run.
“Making the decision is painful,” Chiu Hsi-ho, owner of the Madou King of Crocodile Zoo, said Friday.
Once the revisions to the Animal Protection Act take effect on Jan. 23 next year it will be difficult for small-scale private zoos to survive, Chiu said, adding that he will be unable to run a zoo when the laws become stricter than when he started his business nearly 40 years ago.
The death, attributable to negligence, of a hippopotamus named A He late last year belonging to another private zoo in Taichung triggered public outcry over animal abuse, prompting lawmakers to amend the Animal Protection Act.
The revisions, passed Jan. 23, stipulate that an “animal show vendor” must have a license from the proper authorities prior to commercial operation. [FULL STORY]
