Rats are no excuse to go full Mao
2026-05-08
Taipei is facing a severe rat infestation, and the city government is reportedly considering large-scale use of rodenticides as its primary control measure.
However, this move could trigger an ecological disaster, including mass deaths of birds of prey.
In the past, black kites, relatives of eagles, took more than three decades to return to the skies above the Taipei Basin.
Taiwan’s black kite population was nearly wiped out by the combined effects of habitat destruction, pesticides and rodenticides.
By 1992, fewer than 200 black kites remained on the island. Fortunately, thanks to more than 30 years of collective effort to preserve their remaining
By Wang Chih-shao 王至劭