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As one of the four "Asian Tigers," Taiwan's economy roared in the 1980s, but free-flowing money came with downsides such as the exploitation of wild animals, including tigers.
Cover Image: Same as below
Below: A photo believed to show a Taiwanese person riding a scooter with a (presumed) pet orangutan.
A television show from the 1980s had featured a family that had one of these great apes as a pet. The TV show, sadly, kicked off a craze in Taiwan for keeping these amazing animals. Orangutans are very cute babies -- but they grow fast and these "pets" soon became too much to handle for many. Some were then "freed" to wander the foothills of Taiwan.
(Photo origin unknown)
Below: An orangutan in its natural habitat-- where they should stay! (Via Wikimedia Commons)
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Check our very first episode, the story of a very white man who showed up in London in 1703... and claimed to be from Formosa. Or try a foodie episode from Season 3. Or, for those who want some harder-core history, hear the tale of the Lockheed U-2 pilot Wang Hsi-chueh 王錫爵, who became famous for defecting to the PRC by hijacking China Airlines Flight 334 on May 3, 1986.
