The Council of Agriculture (COA) is encouraging people to vacccinate their pets against rabies in the run-up to International Rabies Awareness Day on Sept. 28.
According to the council’s Bureau Of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine yesterday, rabies awareness will be promoted and vaccinations will be made available across the nation.
Vaccines for pets in areas with high risk of rabies, potentially carried by Chinese ferret badgers, will be free, the bureau said, adding that it would also be performing neutering and registration of pets at the events.
Photo: CNA
Bureau Director Chang Hsu-hsien (張淑賢) said that as of August 2013, 482 Chinese ferret badgers, five masked palm civets, one house shrew and one young dog bitten by a Chinese ferret badger had been diagnosed with rabies, with 5,320 animals inspected nationwide, including dogs, cats and bats.
Rabies vaccinations are the most important counter-measure against rabies, and have a 70 percent success rate in preventing the spread of rabies in humans and animals, Chang said.
Chang called on people not to abandon their pets or to attempt to touch wild animals, and to pay attention to the vaccination dates for their pets.
House cats and dogs should receive their first dose of rabies vaccine when they are three months old and should be vaccinated again every year thereafter, Chang said.
To promote the campaign, the bureau had Internet celebrities Ha Dog Life, a group of four Huskies and their owner, appear at the promotion conference held yesterday.
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