"The issue of whether to release captive animals resurfaced after several people in Yilan County, which contains the nation’s largest botanical garden, recently encountered cobras, which do not generally inhabit cooler mountainous regions. An explanation for the unusual phenomenon has now emerged: Self-proclaimed followers of Buddhist master Hai Tao (海濤) released more than 100kg of the snakes in the county’s Shuanglianpi (雙連埤) area. They even posted about the release on the Web, saying that they “have become addicted to the practice” and drawing criticism from environmental protection groups, as well as from concerned netizens." - Jessie from Bookmarklet

"The follower had posted an article on a Buddhist Web site in the middle of last month saying that if NT$36,000 (US$1,200) could be solicited, a wholesaler would be willing to sell 100kg of snakes “at a cheap price.” On June 1, a blog chronicled the process, saying that six people bought 117 kg of snakes and drove deep into the mountains of Yilan County that night to release them. One follower even described the process as follows: “When I heard the excited and frightened screams of one female follower, I smiled.” “You need to release the animals yourselves to feel the infectious sensation. The sensation will be ingrained in your head and get you hooked,” he wrote. Lai Chien-cheng (賴建丞), a former head of the Yilan chapter of the Society of Wilderness, said he saw a listless snake on the road at Shuanglianpi, which he speculated could be one of the ones that were released recently. “This was not giving the snake life, but death,” he said. He said that a lot of such Buddhist groups release turtles and fish at night at Shuanglianpi, numbering in the thousands each time, which he said has caused an ecological disaster." - Jessie

"Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan executive director Chu Tseng-hung (朱增宏) said religious groups often buy animals bred by dealers for the sole purpose of selling them to be released, which “contravenes the original intention of protecting the animals.” He called for the Council of Agriculture to revise the law and complete an environmental impact assessment of the practice. He said that religious groups believe the practice helps reduce the “negative karma” of an individual, and even say that if one of the venomous snakes bites someone, it is the result of that person’s karma." - Jessie