A Huang surnamed hiker from Tainan today said that he witnessed illegal logging by “mountain rats” in Alishan’s “Shimeng Valley” earlier this year and took photos of the logging site and the “mountain rats’ den” as evidence. Photo: Taiwan’s Central News Agency
China News Service, Dec. 27 — According to Taiwan’s Central News Agency, after an incident in which illegal loggers in Taiwan’s Alishan attacked forest police, a resident of Tainan said he discovered a logging site in Alishan, which was heartbreaking.
The Chiayi branch of the Forest Police Squad was attacked with stones by mountain rats (a term for illegal loggers) while investigating an illegal logging case in Alishan last night (26th), leaving five forest police officers injured.
A Huang surnamed hiker from Tainan today said that he witnessed illegal logging by “mountain rats” in Alishan’s “Shimeng Valley” earlier this year and took photos of the logging site and the “mountain rats’ den” as evidence.
The Huang-surnamed hiker said that he hikes in Shimeng Valley every year, and because of the beautiful forest scenery along the way, as well as the scent emitted by high-quality tree species such as cypress, Hinoki cypress, and Taiwan yellow cedar, it is truly refreshing.
He said that during the hike, he suddenly heard the sound of many engines coming from the nearby forest. Following the noise, he was shocked to find a group of people using chainsaws to illegally cut down cypress trees, with about twenty to thirty people involved.
He said that he saw these illegal loggers were all migrant workers, and the atmosphere at the scene was “somewhat terrifying.” Fearing he would be discovered, he quickly left.
After leaving the scene, he found a large number of felled cypress trees and semi-finished logs cut into blocks in the forest, in quite substantial quantities.
The Huang-surnamed hiker stated that what he described and the photos he took are absolutely true, and he hopes everyone will pay attention to the “invisible Taiwan.”