Britain Eases Pet Quarantine Rules

[Boronia]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-30/britain-loosens-pet-quarantibe-rules/3752044

Australians taking their pets to Britain will no longer have to leave them in quarantine for six months after the UK relaxed strict rules designed to keep rabies out of the country.

As of January 1, Britain will allow animals from the European Union and listed countries such as the United States and Australia to enter with just a rabies vaccination given 21 days beforehand.

Pets coming in from unlisted countries such as India, Brazil and South Africa will also need to have been vaccinated and take a blood test, but the subsequent quarantine has been halved to three months.

The six-month rule which is being superseded has been in place since the 19th century.

The new measures will bring Britain in line with other EU nations while at the same time ensuring the risk of rabies entering the country remains "extremely low", according to officials.

Announcing the change in June, environment secretary Caroline Spelman said: "The UKG's quarantine system was designed to combat the threat of rabies in the 19th century and has now been left far behind by scientific advances.

"It's time we changed these outdated rules which have caused hardship to generations of pets and pet owners, and those who rely on assistance dogs, with too many animals cooped up unnecessarily."

ABC/AFP

[aussielover]

This is not new. We took our dog to the uk 6 years ago and there was no quarantine back then.

I wish Australia also had the same policy

Edited December 29, 2011 by aussielover

[Linda K]

the sad news though is that now bringing animals back out of there means it is a category 4 country, so animals will need rabies titre tests and the longer quarantine stay from Jan 1, effectively making it now more cost prohibitive to import from the UK

[anniek]

This is not new. We took our dog to the uk 6 years ago and there was no quarantine back then.

They've never "had" to go into quaratine - but they could not enter until 6 moths after a satisfactory rabies titre test. so they could stay in Oz for that time and go straight in once the 6 months was up.