{"version":1,"tree":{"n":"html","c":[{"n":"head","x":"\n ","l":"\n ","c":[{"n":"title","x":"Desconocido","l":"\n \n "},{"n":"link","l":"\n","a":[["rel","stylesheet"],["type","text/css"],["href","../../stylesheet.css"]]},{"n":"link","l":"\n","a":[["rel","stylesheet"],["type","text/css"],["href","../../page_styles.css"]]}]},{"n":"body","a":[["class","calibre"]],"c":[{"n":"div","x":"| ","a":[["class","calibre_navbar"]],"c":[{"n":"a","x":"Siguiente","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["rel","articlenextlink"],["data-eueMZIbjjuCPX9e9np7aa2","{\"name\": \"feed_10/article_4/index_u46.html\", \"frag\": \"\"}"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Menú de sección","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["data-eueMZIbjjuCPX9e9np7aa2","{\"name\": \"feed_10/index_u4.html\", \"frag\": \"article_3\"}"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Menú principal","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["data-eueMZIbjjuCPX9e9np7aa2","{\"name\": \"index_u63.html\", \"frag\": \"feed_10\"}"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Anterior","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["rel","articleprevlink"],["data-eueMZIbjjuCPX9e9np7aa2","{\"name\": \"feed_10/article_2/index_u70.html\", \"frag\": \"\"}"]]},{"n":"hr","l":"\n","a":[["class","calibre6"]]}]},{"n":"div","a":[["class","calibre-nuked-tag-article"]],"c":[{"n":"div","x":"A call to arms","a":[["class","calibre8"]]},{"n":"h1","x":"Taiwan’s other war ","a":[["class","calibre9"]]},{"n":"div","x":"The island is a kill zone for green iguanas ","a":[["class","calibre19"]]},{"n":"p","x":"may. 08, 2025 01:49 | Chiayi","a":[["class","calibre10"]]},{"n":"div","a":[["class","calibre-nuked-tag-article"]],"c":[{"n":"img","a":[["src","images/img1_u63.jpg"],["title","A captured green iguana being held by hunters after it was brought down by a slingshot in Pingtung, Taiwan."],["class","calibre3"],["data-calibre-src","feed_10/article_3/images/img1_u63.jpg"]]}]},{"n":"div","x":"Collared","a":[["class","calibre11"]]},{"n":"p","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"V","a":[["data-caps","initial"],["class","calibre13"]]},{"n":"span","x":"OYU YASIUNGU","l":" is dressed in camouflage and carries a homemade rifle on his back. He treads quietly into undergrowth near a river in Chiayi County in Taiwan. Suddenly, he points his rifle at a tree top. There’s a pop like a firecracker—and then a beast that looks like a small dinosaur plops to the ground. It is an iguana with orange spikes along its back, more than a metre long, shot through the throat. Mr Yasiungu scans the canopy a second time. More shots follow; more lizards plop.","a":[["class","calibre14"]]}]},{"n":"p","x":"Taiwan has a problem with green iguanas. The giant lizards came from Central and South America more than 20 years ago as exotic pets. Many escaped or were released by their owners; they then multiplied rapidly in Taiwan’s southern and central regions, where they have no natural predators. Some experts blame global warming for the lizards’ fecundity: unusually warm winters may have increased hatching rates, as well as the number of babies who survive into adulthood. Whatever the case, there are probably now about 200,000 of them. They are causing enormous problems for farmers by ravaging valuable crops such as maize, red beans and gourds. ","a":[["class","calibre12"]]},{"n":"p","x":"The Taiwanese government pays professionals such as Mr Yasiungu to cull them. They get $16 for an iguana measuring at least 30 centimetres from snout to anus, and $8 for smaller ones. But local governments in the south have also been recruiting amateur lizard hunters. Locals have taken classes in how to snare and kill the reptiles, for example using slingshots or long poles with nooses. Factory workers in the city of Kaohsiung were recently filmed using tools fashioned from fishing rods to capture an iguana wiggling on a roof. More than 1,600 Taiwanese have had this kind of training, says Chiu Kuo-hao, an official with Taiwan’s Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency. These beginners are also eligible to earn bounties, though they earn half the rate that is given to professionals.","a":[["class","calibre12"]]},{"n":"p","x":"Some 83,000 iguanas were killed last year. The goal is to cull up to 120,000 this year. But Mr Chiu worries that the work is not going fast enough. Tight control of firearms is probably slowing the hunt (Mr Yasiungu is from one of Taiwan’s indigenous tribes, to whom looser rules apply). Last year officials from Taiwan’s Ministry of Agriculture suggested that wider use of air guns might make the job more efficient. One problem is that laws prevent Taiwanese firms from producing guns that would be powerful enough to kill a lizard cleanly. Willi Chang, from the Taiwan Airsoft and Airgun Association, says that if Taiwan decides it wants to go down that route people will probably end up having to source the weapons from Chinese manufacturers. Top marks if you predicted that an invasion of ravenous foreign lizards might one day lead Taiwanese to seek out Chinese-made guns. ","a":[["class","calibre12"]],"c":[{"n":"span","x":"■"}]}]},{"n":"div","x":"\n","a":[["class","calibre_navbar"]],"c":[{"n":"hr","l":"\n","a":[["class","calibre6"]]},{"n":"p","x":"This article was downloaded by ","l":"\n","a":[["class","calibre16"]],"c":[{"n":"strong","x":"calibre","l":" from ","a":[["class","calibre13"]]},{"n":"a","x":"https://www.economist.com/asia/2025/05/08/taiwans-other-war","a":[["href","https://www.economist.com/asia/2025/05/08/taiwans-other-war"],["rel","calibre-downloaded-from"]]}]},{"n":"br","a":[["class","calibre-nuked-tag-article"]]},{"n":"br","l":" | ","a":[["class","calibre-nuked-tag-article"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Menú de sección","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["data-eueMZIbjjuCPX9e9np7aa2","{\"name\": \"feed_10/index_u4.html\", \"frag\": \"article_3\"}"]]},{"n":"a","x":"Menú principal","l":" | ","a":[["href","javascript:void(0)"],["data-eueMZIbjjuCPX9e9np7aa2","{\"name\": \"index_u63.html\", \"frag\": \"feed_10\"}"]]}]}]}]},"ns_map":["http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"]}