The number of rabies-affected cities and counties now stands at seven, with two new cases of rabies infection in Formosan ferret-badgers confirmed on Thursday and yesterday by the Council of Agriculture, raising the total number of infected animals to 24.
“As of Thursday, 22 ferret-badgers, including one from Taichung’s Wufeng Township (霧峰) confirmed on Thursday, and one Asian house shrew were found to be infected with rabies,” Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine Director Chang Su-san (張淑賢) said.
Later yesterday, the council confirmed another case from Chiayi County — the seventh city/country to become an affected region.
Responding to questions about the stock of animal rabies vaccines, Chang said a further 300,000 doses will arrive by Monday and 200,000 more by Aug. 12.
“An extra 450,000 already purchased are scheduled to arrive by the 15th, and we are to further purchase 50,000,” she said.
“By the end of this month, a total of 1.38 million doses will be available,” she said, adding that since manufacturers are planning to import more next month and in October, the stock of vaccines for animals is estimated to reach 1.71 million doses by the end of October.
“The total number of cats and dogs in Taiwan is about 1.5 million, including strays, 40 percent of which, or 900,000, are registered domestics that have been vaccinated at least once. The vaccines scheduled to arrive soon will therefore be more than enough for the remaining 60 percent,” she said.
However, Chang cautioned pet-owners that while the pets that have been vaccinated have “basic immunity” against the disease, re-vaccination is required for effective protection and the advice is it must be readministered every year.
At the press conference, the officials met a string of questions concerning the government’s preventive measures for stray animals. Among them was one about the protest raised by animal rights groups last week, accusing the council of “spewing-out half-truths” when encouraging local governments to, and placating the public by saying that they will, round up stray dogs in order to vaccinate them.
What was missing in the statement said the animal rights groups was that “animals kept in animal shelters or in the places designated by the municipal or county [city] competent authority that are not claimed, adopted or properly disposed of over 12 days following a notice or public announcement” may be killed under law.
The Life Conservationist Association, one of the protesting groups, called on the government to adopt the TNVR (Trap/Neuter/Vaccinate/Return) program, saying that the measure encouraged by the authority is one of “culling in disguise.”
The council’s Animal Protection Section chief Lin Tsung-yi (林宗毅) said returning the vaccinated stray animals back to the streets might be a problem for disease prevention because the animals will not return for the essential yearly vaccination on their own.
“What we can do is to call on the owners not to abandon their pets because of the rabies outbreak. Vaccination alone will do,” he said. “And now is actually the best timing for adoption, as all the sheltered animals are already vaccinated.”
At the same press briefing, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) reported that as of Thursday, 669 people have applied for the use of the human rabies vaccine, of which 391 have been approved.
Centers Director-General Chang Feng-yee (張峰義) said a program for those who had been bitten by ferret-badgers in the past year had been initiated.
“These people can call 1922, the disease prevention toll-free hotline, to be evaluated on the need to get vaccinated against rabies,” Chang said.
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
TEMPORAL/SPIRITUAL: Beijing’s claim that the next Buddhist leader must come from China is a heavy-handed political maneuver that will fall flat-faced, experts said China’s requirement that the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation to be born in China and approved by Beijing has drawn criticism, with experts at a forum in Taipei yesterday saying that if Beijing were to put forth its own Dalai Lama, the person would not be recognized by the Tibetan Buddhist community. The experts made a remarks at the two-day forum hosted by the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama titled: “The Snow Land Forum: Finding Common Ground on Tibet.” China says it has the right to determine the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, as it claims sovereignty over Tibet since ancient times,
Temperatures in some parts of Taiwan are expected to fall sharply to lows of 15°C later this week as seasonal northeasterly winds strengthen, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. It is to be the strongest cold wave to affect northern Taiwan this autumn, while Chiayi County in the southwest and some parts of central Taiwan are likely to also see lower temperatures due to radiational cooling, which occurs under conditions of clear skies, light winds and dry weather, the CWA said. Across Taiwan, temperatures are to fall gradually this week, dropping to 15°C to 16°C in the early hours of Wednesday
RSS