Department of Economic Development

        With the Covid-19 epidemic subsiding, the Taipei City Animal Protection Office (TCAPO) immediately started animal vaccination work to strengthen prevention. From today (2021-10-01) until the end of December, 47 sessions of “Taipei City Neighborhood Rabies Vaccination Rounds for Domestic Dogs and Cats” have been planned to provide free rabies vaccination and pet registration services for domestic dogs and cats. The goal is to increase the rabies vaccination coverage rate for animals in the nine administrative districts of Taipei City, including Wenshan, Shilin, Beitou, Nangang, Neihu, Xinyi, Daan, Zhongshan, and Zhongzheng to protect the health of the pets.

        TCAPO announced that the "2021 Taipei Animal Protection Month" was held from September 25 to 26 in response to World Rabies Day on September 28, with at least 547 dogs and cats receiving a rabies vaccination boost. Many people are also looking forward to more publicly funded activities by the city. TCAPO is partnering with nine district offices in the shallow mountainous area to conduct 47 vaccination sessions, each providing 100 doses of free rabies vaccine and 50 sets of microchipping and pet registration services. 

The first event started today, with Dr. Chen Zhenglun from the ET PET Animal Hospital visiting Song You Li, Xinyi District, to provide on-site services at the Song You Li Civic Activity Center (No. 22, Lane 2, Lane 76, Sec. 6, Xinyi Road), where all pets over the age of 3 months are eligible to participate. Owners must bring their ID card and the pet to the clinic to make an appointment for the vaccination. If the pet is found to have allergies, fever, pregnancy, dysentery, heart, liver and kidney diseases, etc., and may not be suitable for the vaccination, a veterinarian can be called to assess the situation. The owners are reminded to pay attention to protective measures for their pets, use pet cages or leashes to avoid fights, clean up after their pets, maintain the order and cleanliness of the event site, and be a good and responsible owner.

        TCAPO stressed that there are still occasional cases of rabies-infected wild animals biting people in the southern and central region of the country. Taipei City has a high population density and there are still shallow mountainous areas around the city, so owners and their pets may come into contact with wild animals when they go out for a walk or hike, so they should guard against rabies. In accordance with the Animal Disease Control Ordinance, owners are required to take a rabies vaccination for their cats and cats, ferrets and other carnivores every year, and failure to do so may result in a fine of $30,000 to $150,000. 

The office will also send out text messages to notify owners in the campaign area who have not updated their pet’s rabies vaccination information within one year. Please do not be alarmed by the text message; You can participate in the sessions or take your pet to a nearby animal hospital to complete the shots. For more information, please refer to the "Rabies Prevention" area on the official website of the Animal Protection Office (http://bit.ly/2Ls23ZP). The public is urged to follow the "2 no's and 1 yes" principle - "no contact with wild animals", "no abandonment of family pets", and "annual rabies vaccination for family dogs and cats".