Study in UK Pet Rule may be reviewed soon
Ron Jensen, Stars and Stripes, Sun. 22 Sept. 2002

RAF MILDENHALL, England --- A study by a veterinarians organization that could result in Americans being allowed to take their pets to the United Kingdom without having to put them in quarantine first may be ready for government review in a week or so.

The change would put North America on a list that permits pets with proper certification regarding their risk of carrying rabies to be admitted without the current six-month wait.

"We hope to get that report at the end of this month," a spokeswoman for the Dept. of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said Friday.

The department will analyze the report and send it along to the government ministers who will assess its contents. If the risk is deemed slight, the quarantine requirements could be lifted within weeks, she said.

"We hope to make an announcement at the end of October or very early November," said the spokeswoman who was not identified.

The United Kingdom has considered itself to be free of rabies and has done its best to keep it that way. When the tunnel under the English Channel was built, safeguards were put in to prevent a rabid rodent, for example, from meandering into England.

For decades, any small animal entering the UK was required to go through the quarantine. This can be costly, with fees reaching $4,000 or more for an average sized cat or dog.

In 2000, a Passport for Pets plan was introduced that allowed pets with certification to enter the country without undergoing the quarantine. However, this applied only to countries where the risk of rabies was thought to be minimal or non-existant.

Pets from Western Europe and Japan and several other regions, including Hawaii, were allowed in with proper travel documents vouching for their rabies-free status.

The threat of rabies from North America was considered too high for the continent to be added to the PETS plan. But pressure from the US government and British travelers who wanted to take Fluffy or Spot to America on their holiday caused the government to take another look at the rabies situation in the US, Mexico, and Canada.

It is that report that DEFRA should receive this month.

North America's inclusion in PETS would greatly benefit US Department of Defense ID card holders who number about 25,000 in the UK. Some leave their pets in the States rather than subject them to the quarantine. Others have steered clear of UK assignments because of the quarantine. End of article.
.....and still others go to the Continent first, then accept an assignment to the UK to avoid said quarantine ;) :D

Eoghania,
Good to see they seem to be making progress. Maybe I'm naive but surely as long as the proper precautions are taken it wouldn't be a problem. I would imagine that, at the moment, it would be easy enough to fly in via other countries that would accept them so it's time the scheme was widened.

At least I'm assuming you have to make sure the dog's are covered with jabs,chips etc but you don't have to show how long it's been on the continent or if it had originally gone through quarantine.
Dot

If you "choose" to come in through the Continent, you have to establish the titre testing and wait 6 months without the animal departing the EU. Mine were chipped at 6 months old, so that's no biggie any more :D :D Oh, there are no quarantines to come over here. Just health certificates and proof of vaccinations. :)

There was one woman that contacted me through a travel website who was moving from Alaska or the Yukon over to the UK. She and her partner were planning on backpacking and camping around Europe with their 3 large breed dogs during the six month waiting period. She wanted to know if I had any suggestions about going places here with her "kinda behaved" dogs--as in trains, restaurants and museums. To be honest, I really couldn't anticipate the reaction of the locals to this crew :D
I thought it was just a bit chaotic for me to give any advice :) This was a couple of years ago, so I didn't know about y'all :) :)

It would still require a dog to wait out six months in a country covered bythe pet scheme. You sign a form staing that you have not taken your dog into a non Pets country in the six months before coming into UK.

Even when Pets does come in for USA it will still mean at least six months from the blood titre test before they can come in. After that they just need to keep the Rabies upto date, but if they are even one day late with booster, have to start procedure aain.

the other important thing to remeber that the dog must have been chipped before the rabies and a month at least must elapse before the blood test for antibody.