Apprehensive over the spread of rabies, Yilan County Councilor Lin Chyi-shan of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has requested that the opportunity be used to kill all wild dogs, and condones the use of guns for doing so. Animal protection groups have called him out for his erroneous way of thinking and for being cruel. Yilan County’s Animal and Plant Disease Control Center said that at present no stray dogs or cats have contracted rabies, making an increase in the capturing and killing of the animals unwarranted. Later Lin explained that he meant anesthesia guns should be used.
The Yilan County Council’s KMT caucus on July 31 invited county government agencies to give a report on methods for preventing and controlling rabies. Animal and Plant Disease Control Center director Chen Wen-chin said that Yilan will open all 137 of its designated locations for supplying rabies vaccine inoculations next week, adding that 5,000 doses will be arriving this week, which is enough to prevent an epidemic from occurring in the mountainous areas that will be blocked off and inoculated prior to moving to the flatlands.
The center said that until last week, four dead Formosan ferret-badgers had been found in Yilan, the first two of which had not infected with rabies. The two ferret-badgers found at Fushan Botanical Garden and Renshan Botanical Garden on July 29 are still being tested by the Council of Agriculture.
Photo courtesy of Chen Chien-hua
照片由陳建樺提供
The Yilan County Public Health Bureau says that the county’s 35 doses of vaccine are located at Saint Mary’s Hospital, adding that this week more vaccinations will be made available at Poh Ai Hospital and National Yang-Ming University Hospital. Veterinarians are set to get the first round of vaccine, while wild animal control workers and dogcatchers will get the second round.
Lin says that this should be used as an opportunity to kill the numerous wild dogs that live in the area, saying that the use of guns is okay with him. Yilan County Council’s KMT caucus whip Lee Chih-yung says that the Asian house shrew is also being infected, calling on the public health bureau to have local district offices distribute rodenticide for the public.
Yilan County Stray Dog Care Association president Chin Huei-ling says that all warm-blooded mammals can be infected with rabies, not just stray dogs, so does that mean that all animals should be killed? The councilor’s way of thinking is misguided, she says, adding such irrational behavior would fail to teach future generations how to love and care for living creatures. The most concrete method for preventing the spread of the virus would be administering oral vaccines among stray dogs, Chin says.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
狂犬病疫情有擴散之虞,宜蘭縣國民黨團議員林棋山要求趁這個機會撲殺野狗,用槍打也可以;動保團體抨擊是錯誤觀念且殘忍;宜縣動植物防疫所指出,目前流浪犬貓並未感染狂犬病,沒有擴大捕抓撲殺的必要;林棋山事後解釋,他指的是麻醉槍。
國民黨議會黨團七月三十一日邀請縣府相關單位報告狂犬病防治作法。動植物防疫所長陳文進說,宜縣將設一百三十七處狂犬病疫苗注射據點,下週全面展開,縣內目前有一千三百劑疫苗,本週還有五千劑會到位,足夠應付山區村里的防疫,先把山區圍堵再往平地施打。
防疫所指出,上週迄今,宜縣共發現四隻鼬獾屍體,前兩隻都是陰性並未感染,上個月廿九日在福山植物園與仁山苗圃各發現一隻,農委會還在化驗。
縣衛生局指出,狂犬病的人用疫苗,目前儲備點是聖母醫院有三十五劑,本週將擴增到博愛與陽大附設醫院,第一波已針對獸醫師施打,捕抓流浪狗的清潔隊人員列為第二波施打對象。
縣議員林棋山指出,野狗一堆,趁這次機會撲殺,用槍打也可以;黨團幹事長李志鏞也指出,清潔隊捕抓野狗要更積極作為,人命比狗來得重要,現在連錢鼠都感染,衛生局應請公所儘快將滅鼠藥發給民眾。
宜蘭縣流浪狗關懷協會總幹事秦慧玲說,所有溫血哺乳動物都可能感染狂犬病,不只是流浪狗,難道要把所有動物都撲殺,議員觀念錯誤,是不理智的行為,無法教導下一代愛護生命,具體的作法應該是,提供口服疫苗讓流浪狗食用。
(自由時報記者游明金)
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