Review Of Australian Quarrantine Importation

[zeebie]

Currently the Australian DAFF is reviewing policies related to importation of dogs/cats and semen and request expression of interest from the public regarding proposed changes etc.

This is the link to the website

http://www.daff.gov.au/ba/ira/current-animal/dogs_and_cats

this is link to draft proposal in word format -

http://www.daff.gov.au/__data/assets/word_doc/0006/2177862/draft_review_dogscats.doc

It is imperative to fully understand the ramifications of changing quarrantine periods to a shorter time frame and the amount of diseases we are currently being protected from entering our borders by the strict protocol adhered to, while quarrantine of pets arriving with travellers is annoying it does serve an essential purpose.

The only aspect I think would help would be to have other facilities for quarrantine available within Australian states other then Sydney/Melbourne and Perth.

[Diva]

From memory this year's budget papers mentioned that they are going to move to one station, in Melbourne, the others will be closed.

[wayrod]

On July 9 2012 the Govt indicated the new quarantine facility would be located in Donnybrook Road, Mickleham, Victoria, (near Kal Kallo on Hume Freeway) about 15 minute drive from Melbourne Airport. All imports will be housed there, not just cats and dogs. The facilities at: Spotswood, Eastern Creek, and Bylands (dogs and cats) will be closed once operational around 2014/2015, they suggest full occupation of site around 2017.

How this will work with international flight movements will be interesting as not all international airlines currently fly into Melbourne.

As for the new import draft, this would bring Australia in line with New Zealand (except Quarantine Stations in NZ are privatised and in Aust they will remain controlled by the Commonwealth Government).

In NZ they currently offer a 10 day quarantine, in most cases, from certain countries. Dogs must then spend a remaining 80 days resident in NZ before being eligible for export (plus veterinary requirements) to Australia from there, but during that 80 day period they can attend shows and be campaigned.

Quarantine fees for 10 day stay in NZ is around the $1300-1400NZD including MPI (Govt Quarantine inspection) fees which is currently comparable with a 30 day stay in AQIS Quarantine Facilities.

[Sheridan]

Does it mean they're changing country classifications, too?

[Esky the husky]

There's only two country groups now Sheridan

List of proposed Group 1 and Group 2 countries

Group 1

American Samoa, Antigua & Barbuda, Argentina, Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Canary & Balearic Islands, Cayman Islands, Chile, the Republic of Croatia, the Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Falkland Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Polynesia, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Guam, Guernsey, Hawaii, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Macau, Malta, Malaysia (Peninsular, Sabah & Sarawak only), Mauritius, Monaco, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles & Aruba, New Caledonia, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Republic of South Africa, Reunion, Saipan, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Spain, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Sweden, Switzerland (including Liechtenstein), Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States, United States Virgin Islands, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna, Western Samoa.

Minimum of 10 days quarantine and rabies vaccination

Group 2

Cocos (Keeling) Islands, New Zealand, Norfolk Island.

No quarantine required

Edited July 29, 2012 by Esky the husky

[Mjosa]

We had a quarantine station here in South Australia, on Torrens Island, I had a dog quarantined there for two months required stay from the UK back in 1990 and about three or four years later they closed it down, now we have the choice of quarantining at Eastern Creek NSW or the one in Victoria.

I am guessing Govt. cost cutting once again

[Puppoochi]

There's only two country groups now Sheridan

List of proposed Group 1 and Group 2 countries

Group 1

American Samoa, Antigua & Barbuda, Argentina, Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Canary & Balearic Islands, Cayman Islands, Chile, the Republic of Croatia, the Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Falkland Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Polynesia, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Guam, Guernsey, Hawaii, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Macau, Malta, Malaysia (Peninsular, Sabah & Sarawak only), Mauritius, Monaco, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles & Aruba, New Caledonia, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Republic of South Africa, Reunion, Saipan, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Spain, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Sweden, Switzerland (including Liechtenstein), Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States, United States Virgin Islands, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna, Western Samoa.

Minimum of 10 days quarantine and rabies vaccination

Group 2

Cocos (Keeling) Islands, New Zealand, Norfolk Island.

No quarantine required

australia's not there, are we in group 2?

[Mjosa]

Of course Australia is not listed on there, this is OUR AQIS listing of countries

[Esky the husky]

Yes these are how AQIS (our quarantine place) has categorised countries for import.

Currently there are 5 categories of countries which have different requirements for animals to come into Australia.

[Puppoochi]

Of course Australia is not listed on there, this is OUR AQIS listing of countries

doh

[Dogsfevr]

I hope the time is shortened .

Lets be honest anyone who has brought a dog in will be aware that quarantine as such is a tad lax anyway.

Dogs go outside & share (alone) the same grassed yards,the grooming rooms & walking in/out.

In our case our dogs where given a wooden crate from South Africa to sleep in,not treated /nothing .

They where more annoyed the dogs started to eat the crate

Given most animals have meet a strict requirement before leaving the chances of diseases arriving is small.

NZ has it right its about time Australia followed

[oakway]

I have great concern for Australia only having one Quarantine station to house our imports.

My concern is that if some disease should be found it could mean the end of every import in Quarantine at that time.

To me it makes more sense to have smaller stations within each state. (Please bear in mind that I have never heard of an animal cat/dog dying of a disease in quarantine).

This way only one states quarantined animals would be exposed not all the entire countries animals that are in quarantine.

Yes I do agree that the quarantine time in Australia should be shortened.

Always remember that all the tests are carried out and the animal is given a clean bill of health before it leaves the country of origin.

[Linda K]

agree with it currently being very lax anyway, having just looked after some cats for a friend in quarantine (cats came into Vic and she lived in rural NSW), there was no suggestion on leaving that anyone should disinfect or anything, so if any animals there were infected, very easy for any visitor to take the disease out and spread it (I did however carry F10 in a spray bottle, and did spray my hands and clothes after exiting, and did change outfits before and after visiting and did not handle my own cats when I got home until I had done so. Do not imagine everyone is as vigilant though, nor do they tell you to - only not to touch any other animal, and in the case of cats, you can;t take them out of their enclosure at all (not even to groom, which in the case of longhairs is not right), you can;t even look at any other enclosure (kind of hard though when they are 4 cat runs in each bank). We did notice too that the blankets in the cat beds were not changed AT ALL during the 30 days they were there. Fully happy with 10 days instead of 30, and even more that they will be just down the road from us - might be some jobs on offer in a few years!!!

[Sheridan]

There's only two country groups now Sheridan

List of proposed Group 1 and Group 2 countries

Group 1

American Samoa, Antigua & Barbuda, Argentina, Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Canary & Balearic Islands, Cayman Islands, Chile, the Republic of Croatia, the Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Falkland Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Polynesia, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Guam, Guernsey, Hawaii, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Macau, Malta, Malaysia (Peninsular, Sabah & Sarawak only), Mauritius, Monaco, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles & Aruba, New Caledonia, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Republic of South Africa, Reunion, Saipan, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Spain, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Sweden, Switzerland (including Liechtenstein), Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States, United States Virgin Islands, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna, Western Samoa.

Minimum of 10 days quarantine and rabies vaccination

Group 2

Cocos (Keeling) Islands, New Zealand, Norfolk Island.

No quarantine required

Is Russia not in that list or am I just not seeing it?

[dasha]

Linda K the reason you don't get told to change anything is because the diseases they are quarantined for cannot be taken out on you as such. Cats are mainly quarantined for Rabies and a general health check.

You can'T take rabies home on your shirt or hands or shoes.

The attendants groom the cats during their stay. Imagine every owner that came wanted to take their cat to a common room to groom, it means the staff can't do any other jobs in there til the cat and owner are gone. Multiply that by say 20 owners and when would they get to do any work.

[zeebie]

From memory this year's budget papers mentioned that they are going to move to one station, in Melbourne, the others will be closed.

True this will happen and I do not think they have taken into consideration the amount of problems it will cause with all livestock having to be airfreighted into the one place, but it is going to be a revenue raiser no doubt!

[zeebie]

Just with reference to my original post please if you have any information to submit before the closing date get to and put your thoughts in writing to address the various proposal statements listed on the link. these must be relevent otherwise they will not be even considered.

I have exported and re imported a dog and for my own peace of mind and dogs protection I went the extra mile and had him vaccinated against rabies, I am now thankful I did with the current Lyssavirus ramping up and with the rabies vaccine giving protection.

We have one set of importation rules but many of the countries will not accept our dogs unless they pass specific tests as these countries do not currently have these diseases as an example NZ has zero Heartworm and Q tick therefore all dogs must be tested and titre must fall below a certain level or be negative to allow entry into country. UK & the European nations all have their own spin on things as well.

[Mjosa]

Sheridan, as far as importing from Russia, they cannot come straight into Australia, I do not think their health testing is so stringent, they have to go to eg. the USA and stay there for six months, go through all the health testing there before leaving.

I know this as two friends of mine in the USA took to look after two dogs for Australia, one of these puppies spent quite a bit of time in a veterinary clinic as it was very sick when it arrived, hence my thinking do they do any health testing at all in Russia.

[SkySoaringMagpie]

From memory this year's budget papers mentioned that they are going to move to one station, in Melbourne, the others will be closed.

True this will happen and I do not think they have taken into consideration the amount of problems it will cause with all livestock having to be airfreighted into the one place, but it is going to be a revenue raiser no doubt!

On this point, if I lived in WA or QLD I might point out that what this means practically speaking is flying the dog again when quarantine is over - the rest of us could drive. And those of us who fly dogs know that there is limited space on domestic aircraft for them. If they build a large facility, I think they will need to bear in mind the carrying capacity to move the dogs out once their quarantine period is finished.

[Sheridan]

Sheridan, as far as importing from Russia, they cannot come straight into Australia, I do not think their health testing is so stringent, they have to go to eg. the USA and stay there for six months, go through all the health testing there before leaving.

I know this as two friends of mine in the USA took to look after two dogs for Australia, one of these puppies spent quite a bit of time in a veterinary clinic as it was very sick when it arrived, hence my thinking do they do any health testing at all in Russia.

You know of two dogs and assume that no one in Russia health tests so generalisation much?