Volunteer animal caretakers yesterday accused the New Taipei City (新北市) Government of negligence over inaction about rumors of feline panleukopenia virus (FPV) spreading in a local tourism hotspot known as “the Cat Village.”
However, the city government has claimed it has not received any reports of an FPV outbreak.
The “Cat Village” is a tourist hotspot in the Houtong area (猴硐) of New Taipei City’s Ruifang District (瑞芳) that became popular since 2009.
Photo: Wang Ying-chieh, Taipei Times
It is also the only place in the country that currently has a bridge — resembling a gray cat in appearance — for use by both humans and cats.
A volunteer, surnamed Chou (周), said he brought a cat to a New Taipei City veterinarian after it fell off a roof last month.
After a checkup on May 24, the veterinarian found the cat had contracted FPV, Chou said.
Chou said this was not the first time FPV had been reported in Houtong, adding that volunteer groups have already alerted residents to be on the lookout for sick cats and to help with sanitation by having the cats disinfected.
Previously, an alleged case of FPV had been reported in in Houtong on May 10, volunteers said.
The volunteers also asked that tourists exercise caution while near the cats and refrain from petting them.
If tourists simply cannot resist the urge to pet the cats, they should wash their hands thoroughly afterward, the volunteers said, adding that tourists should also disinfect themselves before returning home.
Tourists should also refrain from bringing their house cats to the area if they have not been vaccinated, they added.
According to Ruifang District’s Gongciao Communal Development Association executive chief Chen Yi-chun (陳宜群), FPV infections usually hit the Houtoung area during this time of year.
Chen asked the government to take into consideration the feelings of Houtong residents and deal with the problem of stray cats.
Meanwhile, the acting chef of the Animal Protection and Health Inspection Office Chang Li-chen (張麗珍) said the office has not received any reports of FPV infections.
According to Chang, all 68 cats in the village were vaccinated during the commencement ceremony of the bridge in February, adding that the vaccines should be good for the entire year.
There should be no problems about FPV, Chang said, adding that the office would look into the matter.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods