United States: The US just released new directives for dogs traveling into the country, which will be put into force in August.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declared Wednesday that amending regulations for dogs being brought into the United States is a new strategy in the war against diseases such as canine rabies, which they are currently trying to keep America free of.
More about the regulation
From August 1, these regulations call for dogs to enter the US in an immaculate form upon arrival, being at least microchipped and being accompanied by a “CDC Dog Import Form” receipt that is filled out online two to ten days before arrival.
According to CNN Health reports, these regulations may include other members of a household, like the already-housed service dogs and even those who were born in the United States and are coming back from another place.
According to the CDC, “CDC Dog Import” permits that are currently used will expire by August 31.
The decision mentioned that there will be more requirements concerning the dog travel in the past six months or they hade been taken rge vaccine in the past six months.
The CDC web page contains a travel checklist of vaccinated dogs in the US and dogs coming from high-risk countries to the US.
The announcement noted that more requirements may apply based on where the dog has traveled in the previous six months or where they had been vaccinated. The CDC website offers travel checklists for US-vaccinated dogs and foreign-vaccinated dogs from high-risk countries.
The CDC states that over a hundred countries still have rabies endemic, and thus, even though it was eradicated in the US in 2007, dogs that are unvaccinated can still contract rabies from wildlife.
In the US, rabies is intimated by wild animals, which can range from bats to raccoons, skunks, and foxes. But while in some parts of Asia, Africa, or Central and South America, human rabies due to dogs is one of the major problems, in developed countries, the incidence of this disease is already rare.
According to the CDC, “For dogs arriving from countries with a high risk of dog rabies, they must be protected against rabies,” CNN Health reported.
According to a statement from the agency’s website, “If your dog’s rabies vaccination expires before you get your dog a booster vaccine, your dog must have another titer drawn at least 30 days after booster vaccination to be eligible for importation. CDC recommends you always keep your dog’s rabies vaccination current.”
What more have the CDC announced?
The CDC stated, “CDC encourages people traveling with their dogs to use CDC’s new personalized question-and-answer tool, ‘DogBot,’ to finalize what rules would be applied to their dogs, mainly on the basis of their dates of travel.
The announcement added further, “People should plan in advance for future travel to ensure requirements for dog importations will be met at the time their dogs will enter the United States.”
Jennifer Skiff, director of international at the animal advocacy group Animal Wellness Action, who also called for the new rules to overreach, stated, “Rabies vaccinations, health certificates, and of course, microchips make sense.”
She said, “But the CDC is mandating serology titers,” and, “One of many problems with that, other than being an excessive and costly requirement, is that the agency is requiring they be done in a CDC-approved laboratory, and not all countries have CDC-approved laboratories.”