Date: Sat, 13 Jan 1996
Taiwan police find six tonnes of dolphin heads

TAIPEI, Jan 12 (Reuter) - Police in Taiwan have found six tonnes of dolphin heads in a freezer and suspect that a giant crime syndicate may have been responsible for killing the animals, state television reported on Friday.

Police said they arrested one man, Wu Wan-chiao, for operating the freezer in the eastern coastal county of Yunlin, but Wu so far has refused to say where the dolphins came from.
"We face this incident with a heavy heart and hope to intensify our efforts in this area in the future," an official from the cabinet's Council of Agriculture said on state television.

The police suspect that a large crime syndicate may have smuggled and killed the dolphins, state television reported. Taiwan has been criticised in the past for failing to enforce international conservation laws that ban the killing of endangered animals.


Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996
From: Lien-Siang Chou

Regarding the news of illegal dolphin carcasses found by the Taiwan police, I was invited to help communicate correct information, including species identification. I offer the following corrections and amendments:

** Another illegal case:

Based on the statement from the accused in this case, Mr. WU, police uncovered another illegal dolphin meat seller in the eastern coastal county, Taidung. In this case, there were 18 pieces of carcass without heads and they weighted about 500 kg. The fishermen had cut each dolphin into 2-4 pieces. These pieces consist at least 6 dolphins (because 6 truncks with flipper joints). Two of these animals were Lagenodelphis hosei. Identification of the others must wait DNA analysis.

Lien-siang Chou
Professor
Department of Zoology National Taiwan University
Taipei, Taiwan, R. O. C.
Tel:886(Taiwan)-2-366-1331
Fax:886(Taiwan)-2-363-9902
e-mail: chouls@ccms.ntu.edu.tw



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