Three Formosan ferret-badgers have been confirmed as having had rabies, the first time the virus has been detected in Miaoli County, the local Animal Care and Health Office said on Thursday.
As part of a program being carried out by the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine to assess the prevalence of rabies among wild animal across Taiwan, two Formosan ferret-badgers were captured in Jhuolan Township (卓蘭) on Jan. 1 and Jan. 7, and a third was caught in Taian Township (泰安) on Jan. 18, the office said.
The three animals died in captivity and were later confirmed by the Animal Health Research Institute as having been infected with the rabies virus, the office said.
Photo: Yang Yuan-ting, Taipei Times
The three ferret-badgers are the first rabies cases discovered north of the Daan River (大安溪) — which partly defines the Miaoli County-Taichung border — since 2013, which indicates that the virus is spreading across the river, office Director Chang Chun-yi (張俊義) said.
To prevent rabies from spreading among cats and dogs in the area, the office would go door-to-door to administer free vaccinations for pets, Chang said, adding that residents should have their animals neutered and microchipped.
Animal patrols would be stepped up in the county and the office would capture stray dogs in high-risk areas to be placed in secure facilities and vaccinated against rabies if necessary, he said.
People should report animal carcasses they find to the office, not dispose of them on their own, he added.
Anyone bitten or scratched by a stray animal should clean the wound with soap and water for at least 15 minutes and disinfect the area with 70 percent alcohol before seeking urgent medical treatment and reporting the case to their local township office or animal care facility, the office said.
Miaoli County Commissioner Chung Tung-chin (鍾東錦) called on the public not to abandon pets and not to touch or catch wild animals.
It is imperative that people take their pets to receive shots every year to help prevent the spread of rabies among animals and thereby ensure it does not jump from animals to humans, Chung said.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas