LADY FRETWELL & THE PET SCHEME - CHANGE ON THE WAY
Beginning January 1st, Pets traveling from the US and Canada will no longer be subject
to quarantine if the proper procedures are followed.
The information below is the current situation for travel to Great Britain.
For more than 100 years, the United Kingdom has had a strictly enforced
quarantine program in effect. Bring in a dog, cat, guinea pig or rabbit, and
they had to spend six months in one of 80 quarantine kennels in Great Britain,
with virtually no exercise and with only the kennels' contracted veterinarians
to check them out. There were no uniform statutes governing these kennels--the
kennel owners voluntarily agreed to provide respectable care, but this often
was lacking.
"My husband was in the Foreign Service, so this meant that each time we
returned to England from a post our basset hound had to go through that
awful quarantine," says Lady Mary Fretwell. "Over the years, we could see how
the quarantine conditions got worse and worse."
The final straw came in 1987, when Lady Mary and Sir John Fretwell returned
to England from their final post in Paris. "We came back with our basset hound,"
Lady Fretwell says, "and it was a terrible quarantine experience. Our beloved
Bertie, our favorite of all the bassets we've had over the years, was a different
dog after this horrible experience, and died soon afterwards. This pushed us
into doing something about the quarantine situation in the UK."
The result was an organization called "Passports for Pets," and because of
the untiring efforts by the Fretwells and 10,000 members and many volunteers
who pushed for changes in the pet entry system, there is now in place a specific
method of bringing cats and dogs into the UK without going through quarantine
(see accompanying story).
On February 28, 2000, the first phase of the Pet Travel Scheme was implemented
and the first pets arrived at Folkestone via the Eurotunnel Shuttle Service and
Ferries. Since that time, more than 10,000 pets from designated European Union
countries have come into the United Kingdom without quarantine and with
surprisingly few problems.
There are two parts to PETS, one which guarantees and certifies that the pet
has had the rabies vaccine and that it shows no signs of rabies, and the other
certification that says that the pet has been treated for ticks and parasites
between 24 and 48 hours before arriving in the UK. Cats and dogs that travel
to Britain must have both official certifications before they will be allowed
in the country.
Be sure to visit the Pet Travel.Com web site and click on
PET PASSPORTS for complete information on bringing
your pet to Great Britain. |
