Bangkok Post
Date: 10 Mar 2016
By: Staff Writer: AFP
TAIPEI – Activists Thursday vowed to revise Taiwan’s animal protection laws
Ho the hippo died in December 2014 after breaking a leg and sustaining other injuries while being transported from a zoo in Taichung
after a court upheld a ruling overturning a fine against the owner of a private zoo over the death of a famous performing hippopotamus.
A Ho, a male hippo who regularly performed at the Taichung zoo, died in December 2014 after breaking a leg and sustaining other injuries while being transported from the site.
The zoo owner, only identified by his surname Chang, was fined Tw$500,000 ($15,000) by the Taichung city government but appealed.
The High Administrative Court overturned the fine in September 2015, saying the owner did not abuse the hippo, nor did he injure the animal on purpose that led to its death.
The Supreme Administrative Court rejected Taichung’s appeal in its final ruling on February 25, which was received by the city government and Chang Thursday.
The two-tonne beast was apparently panicked when it jumped from a moving truck, crushing its diaphragm and breaking a leg, only to sustain further injuries the following day when it was crushed inside a container while returning home from medical treatment. [FULL STORY]
