Engaging European politicians with Rabies

As part of our plans to increase political engagement in Europe, Professor Louis Nel, Executive Director of GARC met with Rob Flello MP at the UK’s House of Commons to discuss concerns that the MP has raised about the rabies threat from illegal dog smuggling in the European Union.

Mr Flello has been leading a campaign to crack down on illicit dog trafficking and toughen up the EU pet passport (PETS) regime. The Labour MP has accused government ministers of risking a rabies outbreak by failing to tackle a growing cross-border puppy trade in the EU.

Mr Flello has said, “The UK and EU governments need to work together to end this sickening trade, which allows unscrupulous breeders to profit at the expense of the welfare of the pups involved.”

Prof. Nel agreed with Mr Flello that there shouldn’t be any complacency about rabies re-entering the UK and that governments should be vigilant against signs of rabies crossing their borders.

The EU “pet passport” travel scheme last year carried over 170,000 dogs, cats and ferrets to and from the UK. After the UK’s Dogs Trust recently raised concerns about relaxations in the scheme, the UK Chief Veterinary Officer had to write to authorities in Lithuania and Hungary to remind them of their duty to ensure that pet passports are completed correctly and that the welfare of dogs intended for sale is safeguarded.

The Dogs Trust report examined the impact of the 2012 changes to EU regulations which allowed an easier regime for the movement of non-commercial cats, dogs and ferrets across Europe. It included figures from the UK Government indicating a 663% and 780% increase in dogs travelling under the pet passport scheme into the UK from Lithuania and Hungary respectively. The report also warned of “poor compliance” with rabies vaccination, and recent research by the Norwegian Veterinary Institute in Oslo showed that over half of rescue dogs imported from Eastern Europe into Norway were inadequately vaccinated against rabies, suggesting that rabies is a real concern. A test for successful rabies vaccination used to be carried out a month after “pet passport” micro-chipping and the delivery of a rabies vaccination, but this has now been abandoned.  The UK requirement that animals also underwent a six months wait, even after a virus-free blood test, was also ended by the new EU scheme.

Although Britain has been free of rabies since the beginning of the 20th century, with Ireland, Malta, Sweden and Norway also clear of the virus, there are areas of Europe where rabies is still endemic.

Labour MEP Sion Simon recently wrote to the European Commission to ask if it will take measures following evidence that EU legislation was being exploited to illegally import puppies into the UK for commercial purposes, putting the dog population at risk of rabies.

Prof. Nel also spent some time with Lord Alexander Trees at the House of Lords, the only vet with a seat in Parliament in the UK. Lord Trees is Emeritus Professor of Liverpool University and Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Science. Along with Rob Flello MP, Lord Trees also offered to help get rabies control and elimination on the political and public policy agenda in the UK and across the EU.

 

Contributed by Kevin Doran, a Public Affairs Adviser working for GARC on political engagement in Europe, communications and public relations.