Dedicated to the conservation of endangered and threatened
wildlife and wild places, on land or within the sea.

NEWSLETTER

Support from Republic of China on Taiwan - Last updated 2/19/06

For hundreds, if not thousands of years the Chinese people have utilized wildlife in traditional medicines. When wildlife was plentiful no one raised concern. However, with the huge expansion of human populations and the concomitant increase in demands on wildlife to fill medicinal needs, wildlife populations began to shrink.Today many of the wildlife species that serve as the base ingredient of traditional medicines have become extinct or endangered.

So it is with rhinos, tigers and certain other species. Over the past two decades the democratic government of the Republic of China on Taiwan (ROC) has recognized that utilization of certain species of wildlife by its people could no longer be tolerated. Since it has been precluded entry to the United Nations, it cannot be a member of CITES. It has, however, adopted laws similar in nature to our Endangered Species Act and established an arm of its police force dedicated to aggressive enforcement. As was noted in the April 1998 issue of National Geographic, the ROC has prosecuted more violators than three of the largest European nations combined. In addition to its domestic enforcement policy, the ROC has, over the last several years, been very generous in supporting international conservation projects.

By way of example, the ROC granted Wilderness Conservancy funds in 1995 that allowed it to buy a new 1996 American Champion 8GCBC "Super Scout" aircraft and put it into antipoaching operations in Kruger National Park (KNP), South Africa. That aircraft commenced patrol in 1996 and since that time, with only one exception, there have been no rhinos poached in KNP. It has virtually worked itself out of a job and has been re-assigned to the Province of the Eastern Cape and is based at Shamwari Game Reserve. Again, in 1997 the ROC funded the purchase of a six-place Cessna U206F utility aircraft which was put into service with the Wildlife Breeding Resource Centre headquartered in South Africa and which also serves the Endangered Species Protection Unit (ESPU) of the South African Police Service. See "Cessna Update" below. Both of these aircraft have performed exceptionally well and their success has been the direct product of the grants provided to Wilderness Conservancy by the ROC. The ROC has proven to be a great ally of international conservation and in 2005 when a new engine, propeller and windows were needed for the Cessna due to wear and tear operating on unimproved airstrips in both Africa and Baja California, the ROC generously help fund their replacement.