By Jonathan Chin / Staff writer, with CNAThe Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine on Thursday said that nine dead Reeve’s muntjacs found during the Lunar New Year holiday in Yilan County’s mountainous areas did not have rabies. The bureau received a public tipoff about the dead muntjacs in Yilan’s Yuanshan Township (員山), Deputy Director-General Shih Tai-hua (施泰華) said. The bureau recalled several personnel from their vacation to investigate and found seven dead muntjacs, three of which were in a state of severe decomposition and were buried immediately, he said. “The lab results refuted media reports that the muntjacs might have been attacked by rabid ferret-badgers,” he said. Rabies has only been found in the badger population and there have been no reported incidences of muntjacs with rabies, the bureau said.

Source: Taipei Times February 23, 2018 16:02 UTC