ULAN BATOR, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) — The Mongolian police recently seized a total of 168 dead marmots, which could have spread the deadly bubonic plague, the country’s Ecological Police Department (EPD) said Thursday.
“The marmots were found in vehicles heading to the capital city of Ulan Bator and transferred to the country’s National Center for Zoonotic Diseases for laboratory and biological tests,” the EPD said in a statement.
While hunting marmots is illegal in Mongolia, many Mongolians ignore the law and regard the rodent as a delicacy.
Seventeen out of all 21 Mongolian provinces are now at risk of bubonic plague, according to the National Center for Zoonotic Diseases.
The bubonic plague is a bacterial disease that is spread by fleas living on wild rodents such as marmots, which can kill an adult in less than 24 hours if not treated in time, according to the World Health Organization. ■