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."
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