Muntjacs are predatory deer! Dear. 
The belgium done a funny 
Open season?
Yup!
They are now killing over 8000 barking deer in the Chiba Prefecture annually, and barely making a dent to the growing population. There is a good chance that they will spill out of Chiba if they are not contained. Some have already reported sightings in Ibaraki.
They are also selling barking deer food products to encourage hunting. There are barking deer curry and steak that you can buy.
It is illegal to hunt and eat a barking deer here in Taiwan. If caught, you can be jailed for up to 5 years and fine for up to 1M NTD.
What about aboriginals, can they not hunt them ?
Judging from this article from 2022, hunting barking deer is now no longer criminal, so no jail time, but you will still be fined for up to 50K.
I’ve seen lots of their skulls in aboriginal areas, so I assume they hunt them fairly actively.
They should invite republicans to Japan to hunt those barking deer with their AR-15 freedom rifle.
Yeah, me too.
It looks complicated.
Animal preservation and the rights for the Aboriginal peoples to practice their cultural tradition is in constant battle, and so far the laws are very unfriendly to the aboriginal cultures, and some people in turn pay no attention to unfair regulations until they are often unreasonable charged with severe punishments.
I think the only solution is to give them more autonomy but require them to regulate and report the amount and types of animals they hunt, which must comply to a quota set by experts. Otherwise it’s just a never ending cycle of people trying to do the right thing blaming one another, while people just out there for profit get away for destroying the environment.
This Japanese dude grilled some barking deer meat after taking a bunch of super adorable photos of them. He said the texture is a little bit like pork, and not super tough like same other game meat. Although it might be a bit dry if not cooked with a lot of butter. Also, despite not having as strong a game meat taste as venison, it still needs the pepper to mask some of the taste.
Raw barking deer liver is a traditional aboriginal delicacy, but since it isn’t legal, very little people would post videos or share their thoughts on the dish.
For now, if you want to legally taste some authentic Taiwanese barking deer meat, you will have to go to Chiba, Japan.
I just now finished reading this 2018 article on some of Taiwan’s aboriginal hunters:
I don’t know if it’s up to date, but I thought it was interesting.
Maybe this is a false memory, but I seem to remember seeing an old Chinese-style picture of an indigenous hunter holding a spear, and I think there was a tugou beside him.
Edited to add:
Didn’t some Japanese or Chinese traders come here in the 17th (?) century to trade items (maybe esp. some items made of iron?) for deerskins?
Edited to add again (with apologies for being off by a century):
Edited to add yet again:
Well, I couldn’t find the old painting (maybe that’s a false memory), but here’s an old photo of a group of indigenous Taiwan hunters and their dogs (courtesy of Wikipedia).
Edited to add one more time:
Maybe it was this picture (but I think the picture in my memory it looked different):
Because Taiwan is waaaaaaay more developed than Japan. By many leagues! And the areas of non development (ie. Mountains) are filled with mountain rats (poachers) killing and selling everything living under the sun. Our population density and export minded society pretty much ensures extinction for many species. It makes sense to protect things. And if species that breed fast enough and are invasive in other areas are becoming a risk for endangered status here, it only reinforces the above point of taiwans extreme level of human influence on the wild in this country.
Taiwan does have thriving invasive species here that are extinct in its native environment though. The African sacred ibis for example, is extinct in Egypt, where it used to be depicted as a god.
Yes. The problem with that thinking is the all too common assumptions people make that everything is alike. There are cockroaches that are INSANELY hard to keep and breed, meanwhile some are pests. It doesn’t matter due to reasons mentioned. Taiwan and Japan have vastly different situations. Not just environment, and all that entails of things like hiding, food, predation etc, but human contact. Taiwan has far more people than Japan per square km. Likely has far more attachment to TCM (one of the leading exports from say NZ deer farms outside meat), as well as more or less complete lack of enforcement on poaching. Which is a VERY serious problem in regards to crime in Taiwan.
Meaning while, we do have rampant explosions of exotic species, granted. But those are not in any way ckmparible. It needs to be considered on a Species by species basis.
In spite of our flaws, foibles, disappointments, and disasters, we humans have technology nowadays that sometimes borders on the miraculous, and we also have innovative ways to organize ourselves to accomplish challenging tasks. I don’t have the knowledge or the brain power to know what to do about that issue, but I can’t disagree with what you’re saying. If it’s at all possible, I think it would be best for the indigenous people to have a choice whether to join the larger society or keep their old ways, which I guess would include hunting. One reason that I can think of is that–correct me if I’m wrong–the indigenous people themselves appear to be endangered, at least as indigenous people.
Came across quite a number of them in the high hills along county route 東68, crossing the road. Not in a group, just random single ones crossing the road. Got a picture, but it’s kind of like famous Sasquatch picture, as snapped it with smartphone while driving scooter.
Some restaurants in the mountains have 山羌 on the menu (蔥爆山羌肉，麻油山羌). I always assumed that they were farm raised.