Government animal shelters have taken in large numbers of pet rats and mice amid a health scare over the potentially deadly hantavirus.
The deaths of a couple in January infected by hantavirus have created alarm among the public as the virus can be contracted by inhaling dust contaminated with infected rodent feces.
However, government officials say pet owners are overreacting and the risks posed by their pets are minimal.
"If your living environment is clean, it's highly unlikely that you'll get infected," Daniel Lin (
"The government doesn't want owners to randomly dump their pets."
Lin said the number of pet rodents taken in by the animal shelter had climbed to some 450 by the middle of the week. Previously, the shelter only took care of abandoned dogs.
Many rats and mice, though, have not been so fortunate. Local media reports showed alarmed residents in one district of Taipei this week resorting to drastic and cruel means, such as catching wild rats in cages and killing them by pouring boiling water over them.
The government announced recently that it would bring forward a planned mass extermination of rats and mice to the end of March to curb agricultural losses and a further spread of the virus.
Meanwhile, prices for pet mice have plummeted, leaving pet shops at a loss over what to do with them.
"Previously pet mice could be bought for NT$100 to NT$150," Wang Ching-chi (
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