Pingtung: The Pingtung District Prosecutors Office on Wednesday appealed the acquittal of nine Indigenous men from Pingtung County’s Labuwan Tribe in connection with the killing of four Formosan black bears and other endangered animals. The men were initially charged with violating the Wildlife Conservation Act for incidents occurring between 2020 and 2022 but were acquitted by the Pingtung District Court on November 26. The court cited Article 21-1 of the act, which exempts Indigenous people from penalties for hunting or killing wildlife for “non-profit personal use.”
According to Focus Taiwan, prosecutors argued that the clause should not be used to shield deliberate wildlife killings. They emphasized that Indigenous hunting rights are protected only when exercised in accordance with traditional tribal culture, not as a blanket exemption allowing animal killings solely based on Indigenous status.
The news release detailing the indictment in April 2023 described various incidents involving the bears. In one case, a bear was shot by a suspect while gathering herbs. In another, five men surrounded and shot a bear, while the third bear was caught in a snare and shot three times. The fourth incident involved a bear being shot dead, with its body later transported on a motorcycle and displayed at a village residence.
Prosecutors highlighted that the incidents occurred at varying distances from the men’s village, indicating no intrusion into residential areas. They criticized the acts as showing a lack of respect for life and cruelty rather than cultural practice.
Prosecutors also noted that some acts occurred during a “root-seeking activity,” a period prohibiting hunting, yet defendants took firearms into the mountains, violating tribal rules and traditional culture. Within three years, the men killed four bears, five Formosan Sambar Deer, and three Formosan Serow, all protected species, exceeding any reasonable definition of subsistence and traditional rituals.
The appeal aims to address what prosecutors see as a misjudgment that failed to distinguish between personal illicit behavior and collective cultural practice. They seek to clarify the boundary between cultural hunting rights and conservation.
Mai Yung-cheng, village chief and one of the defendants, expressed respect for the decision, emphasizing that hunting culture is integral to villagers’ life rituals, and they do not selectively or wantonly kill species.