TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A hunter admitted to police he had fatally shot an escaped baboon on Monday (March 27) and four other suspects are being investigated for their involvement.
On Monday afternoon, an olive baboon which had been on the run in Taoyuan for 16 days was captured in a house on Zhongzheng Road in the Fugang area of Taoyuan City's Yangmei District with the use of a net. However, agricultural bureau personnel soon discovered that the primate had suffered a gunshot wound and despite undergoing emergency medical treatment, it soon died.
Police then launched an investigation and summoned 13 people from the Taoyuan Department of Agriculture, Hsinchu County Department of Agriculture, and Leofoo Village Theme Park. On Tuesday morning (March 28), a hunter surnamed Lin (林) was sent to the Taoyuan District Prosecutor's Office to be investigated for violating the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法), reported UDN.
Lin inside Yangmei Precinct of Taoyuan Police Department on Monday. (Taoyuan Police Department photo)
The Taoyuan Department of Agriculture alleges that Lin was not entrusted by the department to assist in the capture of the animal, and he was not authorized to shoot. Staff from Leofoo Village fired a tranquilizer dart at the monkey, but missed and did not know that it had already been shot with a firearm.
After police questioned the 13 individuals involved in the capture of the monkey, Lin was listed as a suspect. One staff member each from the Taoyuan Department of Agriculture, the Hsinchu Department of Agriculture, and Leofoo Village, as well as another hunter, were listed as parties involved in the incident and were also sent to the prosecutor's office to be investigated for breaching the Wildlife Conservation Act.
According to the police investigation, Lin is a legal hunter with a hunting rifle license and was contracted by the Hsinchu County Department of Agriculture. When the baboon was found to be hiding inside a house in Fugang, Lin and three agriculture department personnel entered the house first.
(Taoyuan Police Department photo)
At the time, the house was dark, and agriculture department staff had called on Lin to use a flashlight to search the home. However, the baboon reportedly rushed at Lin, prompting him to fire a shot that struck the animal's left chest and exited its back.
The baboon began to bleed profusely and agriculture department personnel and Leofoo Village staff then entered the house. Fearing that the monkey would attack again, they fired a tranquilizer at it.
They then used a net to seize the animal. After they removed it from the house, they discovered that it was badly bleeding. Department of Agriculture personnel rushed the baboon to the Leofoo Village for emergency treatment, but it succumbed to its wounds.
(Taoyuan Police Department photo)
Lin admitted to Yangmei Precinct police that he killed the baboon and told them he was a legally authorized hunter with a license to operate his hunting rifle. He said while he was out bird hunting in Hsinchu County's Hukou Township, he was asked by the Hsinchu County Department of Agriculture to assist with the capture of the baboon.
He said he was concerned that the baboon might attack the people present and claimed that he only opened fire after receiving consent from the people present. However, Hsinchu County Department of Agriculture employees present denied that they issued this permission.
Police confirmed that Lin is indeed a legally authorized hunter with a permit to use a hunting rifle. They said he was not commissioned by the Taoyuan Department of Agriculture to take part in the hunt for the baboon in Taoyuan City.
(CNA photo)
Since the staff from the Taoyuan Department of Agriculture, Hsinchu Department of Agriculture, Leofoo Village, and Lin all have differing accounts, police will conduct a more in-depth investigation.
