The Council of Agriculture (COA) yesterday said it had culled another 175 goats at two ranches in Changhua County in a nation-wide inspection of sheep ranches for cases of infection with the goat pox virus (GPV).
The culling came after nearly 800 goats infected with GPV were culled at two ranches in Yunlin County’s Siluo Township (西螺) on Wednesday. The animals were slaughtered after two goats in the Yunlin meat wholesale market were found to have symptoms of GPV on April 9.
Huang Kuo-ching (黃國青), deputy director of the COA’s Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine (BAPHIQ), said none of the infected animals had entered the retail market.
Vets had spotted the two sick goats in Yunlin County during routine health checks and staff members of the Yunlin animal health inspection and quarantine bureau immediately traveled to the two problem ranches to examine and test all the animals there, Huang said. A ban was also imposed on the movement of animals at both ranches, he said.
Follow-up tests at the BAPHIQ on samples collected at the ranches confirmed that the goats had contracted GPV, a highly contagious disease afflicting small ruminants that is characterized by fever and ocular and nasal discharges. It also causes pox lesions on the skin and on the mucous membranes of the nostrils, mouth and vulva. GPV cannot infect humans and can be destroyed at high temperatures, Huang said.
To prevent the spread of the virus, all of the animals on the four farms were culled and the farms disinfected, Huang said.
Huang said the bureau had informed the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) of the cases. According to OIE regulations, Taiwan will be removed from the list of sheep and goat pox-affected areas if no new cases are reported in the next three years.
Huang said the bureau would procure medications and vaccines to wipe out the disease as soon as possible. The bureau is also investigating the source of the infection, Huang said.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition