The Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) told The Macau Post Daily in an email yesterday that “the marmot (sic) is in normal health condition”.
In the email, the bureau said that the rodent was “currently kept individually in the animal rearing facility in Flora Park.
When asked by The Macau Post Daily about a week ago if members of the public could visit the prairie dog, the bureau said in its reply yesterday that it would “comprehensively consider and assess the animal’s condition and characteristics, public safety, venue etc. to determine whether it will be on public display”.
According to the email, an announcement will be made when the prairie dog is ready to meet the public
Two prairie dogs were found abandoned earlier this year. In January, a resident in Taipa found a prairie dog, while the other one was found in the public Reservoir Park in Coloane in March. Unfortunately, in May, the one found in the Public Reservoir Park died of heart failure.
According to an IAM statement posted in May, after the rodents had been taken into quarantine at the bureau’s kennels one of them was diagnosed with a string of infections caused by ectoparasites, serious skin diseases and anaemia, apart from being underweight. The statement said that the animal died “suddenly”, adding that a necropsy showed that it had died of heart failure due to a heart condition. The statement stressed that the animal did not suffer from any contagious diseases.
Prairie dogs are herbivorous burrowing rodents native to the grassland of Northern America. They are a type of ground squirrel.
They are also part of the local government’s category of animals prohibited to be imported, acquired or fed. Since prairie dogs are not a local native species and there was no record of how the animal came to Macau, the statement said that the bureau suspected that it was smuggled into Macau and later abandoned.
The statement said that due to the animal’s suspected illegal entry into Macau, the bureau had informed the police to investigate the case.
Both marmots and prairie dogs are members of the squirrel family. However, they are rather different, particularly in appearance and behaviour. A photo released by the bureau of one of the abandoned rodents found in Macau early this year shows that the animal in question is a prairie dog.
The undated handout photo provided by the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) in March shows the abandoned prairie dog rescued by IAM officials from the public Reservoir Park earlier that month.
