News: Taipei and Beijing city zoos' animal exchange plan

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http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2002/01/10/story/0000119332

 

Politics threatens zoo plan

TAIPEI, CNA

 

The Taipei and Beijing city zoos have tentatively agreed on an animal

exchange program, but some difficult political problems may hinder the

realization of what might be an unprecedented cooperation project, zoo

officials said yesterday.

 

Taipei and Beijing zoo officials struck the exchange program deal at a

recent seminar in Taipei on animal studies on both sides of the Taiwan

Strait.

 

The Taipei zoo offered a list of five animal species -- the fat-tailed

lemur, the squirrel monkey, the white-handed gibbon, the orangutan and the

kinkajou, also known as the honey bear, for the exchange program, while the

Beijing zoo also proposed five species for exchange -- the squirrel monkey,

the Asian black bear, the Manchurian crane, the Stanley crane and the

white-naped crane.

 

Among them, the Manchurian crane is an endangered species, with less than

2,000 left in the wild, mainly in Northeastern China and the Japanese island

of Hokkaido.

 

Taipei zoo officials said the proposed animal-exchange program would give

them the hoped-for opportunity to introduce the bird to Taiwan.

 

Several other animals on the exchange lists are also categorized as rare

species, making them subject to special protection. Under international

regulations governing the fauna and flora trade, the Taipei and Beijing zoos

cannot exchange animals listed as

" endangered or rare species " unless their respective governments have signed

a relevant agreement.

 

In view of the constant political disputes between the two sides of the

Taiwan Strait, it may take some time for them to sign a formal agreement to

pave the way for cross-strait animal exchanges, zoo officials said.

 

After lengthy discussions between zoo officials on both sides, the Taipei

City Zoo has tentatively decided to apply for the approval of both

governments for sending its kinkajou to Beijing on an experimental basis.

 

" If the plan is approved, it will mark the first cross-strait animal

exchange, " said a Taipei zoo official.