The Rabies Scare

For more than 50 years, Taiwan has been classified as a rabies-free zone. Unfortunately, in July of this year, a Formosan ferret badger was confirmed to have rabies. Since then, 17 more ferret badgers have been confirmed to have rabies and also one shrew.

There still have not been any cases of humans or dogs contracting the virus during this outbreak. However, the word for rabies in Chinese is 狂犬病 which translates to "mad dog disease". This false term immediately gives uninformed people the idea that it is a dog born virus, thus creating a new fear of dogs. Rabies fear mongering combined with the vast amount of stray dogs in Taiwan is a recipe for disaster. A recent Facebook post has sparked outrage from animal lovers and activists. This image was posted with the following caption:
可惡的捕狗大隊用鐵繩吊起牠，還用籠子壓死牠！

"A loathsome group of dog catchers used a metal wire to hang this dog, then crushed it to death with a cage!"

It is a tragedy that people would kill this puppy for the slim chance that it would bite them and even slimmer chance that it was actually rabid. Even more tragic is that this is most certainly not an isolated incident. To quote a local animal rescuer, "The best defense against rabies is to have a vaccinated dog to protect you."

Introducing My Taiwan Dog

In my first post on Taiwan - Life, Culture and Dogs, I'd like to introduce everyone to my very own Taiwan dog. Barkley is a two-and-a-half year old Taiwan dog that I adopted from a local animal rescue group when he was only 6-weeks old.

You can find lots of Taiwan dogs loose on the streets in Taiwan, partly due to their unpopularity as a family pet. Many families feel that these dogs are too ordinary to be a family pet, so they opt for more popular pure bred dogs, such as Golden Retrievers or Poodles. I love those breeds of dogs too, but the fact of the matter is that I've never come across another breed of dog that is as intelligent, caring, loyal and protective as my Taiwan dog. Here's a short video of Barkley enjoying one of his favorite activities.