Resurfacer pet rabies transmitted in Taiwan

Resurfacer pet rabies transmitted in Taiwan

Resurfacer pet rabies transmitted in Taiwan

Canine owners in Taiwan are shaking in their boots, because of three sick ferret-badgers.

For more than half of the century, Taiwan may be mostly about the places on the globe acknowledged as a rabies-free zones through the World Organization of Animal Health (OIE). The final known case of human rabies in Taiwan was in 1959.



However this week the Council of Agriculture confirmed how the lethal disease makes a comeback about the island after three dead wild Formosa ferret-badgers found in the mountains of Yunlin and Nantou counties tested positive for that disease.

Although currently the zoonotic disease is isolated among wild ferret-badgers, this news has sown panic among pet owners and animal rights groups who fear the return of the virus could spark a huge cull of feral animals. Some animal groups also worry what is the news could deal a serious blow to overseas adoption programs.

Thanks in part for the rabies-free designation, Taiwan can be a major exporter of abandoned animals: Over the last decade, the Taichung-based Animal Rescue Team Taiwan has sent 2,300 dogs and cats from the U.S. and Canada. Animals Taiwan, an organization founded by the British expatriate that can in mostly injured and sick animals, sends around 50 animals overseas annually.

“Taiwan’s status being a rabies-free area meant the animals could begin a new life making use of their new owner once they stepped from the airplane. But now, your pet can have been quarantined for about 3 to 5 months,”said Anthony Ni, an expert volunteer at Animal Rescue Team Taiwan. The raised medical fee may be a big deterrent around the group’s adoption program, Mr. Ni added .