DEPARTMENT FOR
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS News Release (News Release ref
:93/09) issued by COI News Distribution Service on 27 April 2009
Current import
checks for rabies-susceptible animals entering the UK from outside
the EU are being reviewed.
Defra, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Department of
Agriculture and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland, are consulting
on the way import checks are conducted on rabies-susceptible
animals, including commercial consignments and unaccompanied pets.
On arrival into the UK, rabies-susceptible animals are securely
transported to quarantine premises where they undergo a six-month
programme of veterinary inspection and monitoring.
The European Commission is recommending that this system is
changed so that these consignments of animals are checked at the
border before being transported to the quarantine premises.
Animal Health Minister Jane Kennedy said:
"We have effective measures in place to ensure that Britain
remains free of rabies - and that's borne out by the fact
that we have had only four cases of rabies in this country since
1969 - all in quarantined animals.
"We ask all those that may be affected for their views on
whether the existing practice of moving rabies-susceptible animals
immediately to a quarantine facility should be changed, so that an
entry check is first instead carried out at border inspection
posts before movement to a quarantine facility."
In the UK the last human death from indigenous rabies was in
1902, and the last case of indigenous terrestrial animal rabies
was in 1922. The most recent case of an animal in quarantine with
rabies was in April 2008 when disease was detected in a puppy
imported from Sri Lanka.
Notes to editors
1. Comments are invited on any aspect of the options laid out in
the consultation paper which is available at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/foodfarming.htm
and closes on 20 July 2009.
2. The review will not be considering the import conditions such
as pre-export requirements, certification, and controls on
movement to destination or quarantine requirements. The import
controls relating to pet animals under Regulation 998/2003, i.e.
the pet passport system, will not be changed. These are the
requirements to microchip, vaccinate and blood test pet dogs and
cats before they can enter the UK.
3. Cases of rabies in the UK have been detected in quarantined
animals (4 between 1969 and now) or in people infected abroad.
Since 1946 there have been 22 deaths in the UK of people infected
with rabies whilst abroad. 4. UK bats may carry a rabies-like
virus, European Bat Lyssavirus 2 (EBLV2). To date seven cases of
EBLV 2 have been confirmed in bats in the UK. In 2002, a bat
handler in Scotland died from EBLV2 infection.
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