Updated list of banned commodities includes invasive animal species

Taipei, April 18 (CNA) The Bureau of Foreign Trade on Monday issued an updated list of items banned from being imported into Taiwan that has added dozens of live animals in an effort to eradicate invasive alien species.

Following the additions, the list of banned commodities now includes one kind of mammal, 250 species of birds, 1,060 types of reptiles, 250 species of amphibians, 6,800 kinds of invertebrates, and 124 types of aquatic animals, for a total of 8,480 species of live animals.

The list will be posted for seven days for the public to comment on after which it will take effect.

In a statement, the Forestry Bureau said the expanded list was worked out last year after experts met with officials from the Fisheries Agency and the Ocean Conservation Administration, in support of efforts to better protect animals and plants endemic to Taiwan.

Animals newly added to the banned import list this time around included birds like the Asian glossy starling, the white-vented Myna, weaver birds, the black-collared starling and the African sacred ibis as well as the red-eared slider (an aquatic turtle), the tegu (a type of lizard), the raccoon, the Florida red-bellied cooter, the green iguana and the cane toad.

The Forestry Bureau said allowing these animals into Taiwan could have adverse ecological effects on the local environment as they out-compete native species for food, water and space.